It Runs In The Family
by the consulting werewolf
Summary: It has been three months since Naru and Lin had returned from London. Mai finds it easy to slip back into her old life, except this time she is falling for Lin. And the new case they are on is seriously sinister.
1. Chapter 1

Lin and Naru. Two men who left her utterly exasperated. For different reasons. Mai Taniyama was going slightly insane between them two.  
Kazuya Shibuya a.k.a Oliver Davis a.k.a Naru the Narcissist has turned all nice. Well not a hundred percent nice but slowly getting there. Ever so slowly. Like he said "please" and "thank you" today (she almost dropped her tray). She supposes he had to let go the heaviness on his soul after he finally laid to rest his twin brother, her dream Naru, Eugene Davis. Two years ago, Naru and Lin, with Mai's help, finally found Gene's body. Then they had left, with a little farewell party  
She is carrying the tray with Lin's coffee to his room, when the memory of that night floats up to the surface. She raises her knuckles to knock on Lin's door. Her heart skips when he solemnly gives her permission to enter. She walks in, quietly places his cup of coffee near his elbow. She flees as soon as she is done as she feels herself blushing. No need to show how flustered she was in front of him. To think that at twenty she'd manage to stop behaving like a teenager.  
Lin is a little taken aback as she does not wait for him to say thank you. She does not even smile at him, like she usually does. Is everything okay? Before they returned, three months ago, he did warn Naru to be a little more courteous to her. Did he do something? He frowns. Stupid scientist. He takes a sip. A little smile plays on his lips. She is really good at making his coffee. Then another frown graces his face as he thinks, did I do something?  
Mai sits down at her desk and slumps forward. Oh my god, she silently screams. She knew her feelings had completely changed when they left. She knew she no longer had any feelings for Naru. She realised it was an infatuation simply because…she blushes again at a particular memory. She needs to stop getting all flustered and weird every time she thought about that night.

Two years ago Houshou declared a party when he heard that Lin and Naru were planning to leave Japan for an uncertain period. The party was actually going well. Masako had drank too much saki (she was underage but she sneaked Ayako's drink when no one was looking) and started to sing with John as back-up vocals. Ayako and Houshou finally expressed their feelings for each other. Naru actually gave everyone a sincere smile. Yasu had a minor heart attack at that. Their private room in the club was getting noisy and Mai had this urgent urge to cry. So she sneaked out. She had found the backdoor and exited the building. She took deep breaths to remain calm as she leaned against the wall. She knew what was going to happen. They were going to leave, finding Gene was why they came here. And they had fulfilled their main objective. She heard the door open to see Lin turn around and spot her.  
He said, "Everything okay Taniyama-san?"  
She replied, "Y-yes."  
He came and stood opposite her. The alley was narrow, so Lin leaned against the opposite wall. He sighed, "I never said thank you."  
She looked up, giving him a weak smile, "You are welcome. I am glad I could be of some help."  
Lin raised his head and looked up at the sliver of sky between two tall buildings. Mai looked at him. His hair was picked up by a light breeze. She smiled. She understood, Lin was a wee bit upset as well, which was uncharacteristic but not unpleasantly so, and he still came to check on her. She giggled, "At least now I might be able to concentrate on my education more."  
Lin chuckled, a deep rumble. Then without really realising what she was doing, she wrapped her hands around his waist, burrowing her head on his chest. The six feet two and five feet four difference was decidedly awkward but Lin didn't find himself minding. He heard her mumble, "Thank you Lin-san. I am glad I walked into the old school building and nearly killed you. Well, uh, sorry for that." She giggled.  
He grinned. He placed a hand on her head. She pulled away, all blushing, "Eh, sorry for that." His hand was still on her head, the brown hair soft under his palm. His hand took a life of his own, as it traveled from the top of her head and down to her cheek, which was just so warm.  
Mai looked straight at his chest because she was very, very confused. Here, her heart was thumping loud and fast because the proximity to this mysterious and handsome Chinese man was doing something to her that she thought only Naru could do. Next, her brain was running haywire with the way her thoughts were turning when his calloused hands landed on her cheek. Oh Gods, she was going to die.  
He wondered why she wasn't making eye contact. She was busy picking her nails. She whispered, "Have a safe journey Lin-san. I will miss you. Both." Yes, she will because this wasn't the first he was confusing her. She always thought she liked Naru but she would not lie there were times when she would catch herself looking at Koujo Lin and wondering...so many things.  
Then he kissed her forehead, and her heart exploded (metaphorically). It was light and quick but the small gesture left her tingling all over. He said, his lips still touching her skin, "I will miss yo—everyone."  
Then they had went back to join the others.

Mai sinks further down her chair. Five minutes, that was all. And then two years had gone by. She had graduated a semester behind but with good grades, got into a good university which was not too far from the Shibuya Psychic Research office. That used to bother her whenever she passed the previously empty office. Her heart would clench and tears would threaten to spill. But she was mostly okay. She found a crazy bunch of new friends at college. Joined the kickboxing classes and football team because in her school life she hardly had time for clubs—no thanks to a certain someone's workaholic disposition and tea-addiction. Also the ghosts that refused to move on. And she was quite good at it—football and kickboxing. So good that now the male population in her college feared her. Except for her two male roommates.  
She smiles. How she had changed. From complete klutz to a sportsperson. From living alone to sharing a flat with two guys and two other girls. Life was okay, but still something was amiss. Sure, she met up with Ayako and Houshou, especially after they got married, and John and surprisingly, Masako as well because she was dating Yasu and she cannot avoid Yasu (how that happened, no one knew, or could completely grasp). They would never admit, but they missed their scary part-time jobs.  
Then they returned. At first she thought that going back to that rhythm of life would be difficult. But eventually it worked. Mai was happy at getting her old family back, even though she is trying to adjust to juggling lectures, assignments, a job, football and boxing.  
The door opens with a bang. It is Ayako and Yasu. Mai smiles at them, and at the bakery bag Yasu is cradling in his arm. Yasu declares, "We are having some cake!"  
Mai stands up, "I will get some tea going." She enters the kitchenette.  
Naru and Lin both come out of their office at the commotion. Mai comes back with a huge tea pot and cups. She places them on the coffee table.  
Yasu, in between chewing, says, "Say Mai when is your college's sport festival again?"  
"Before the spring break," Mai answers. She had to sit beside Lin and it was not helping.  
Ayako takes a sip, "Mai? Do they know?" A mischievous glint in her eyes.  
Naru ask, brows furrowing, "Know what?"  
Mai bites her lips. Yasu explains, "Mai has been training in kickboxing. And the female football team cannot do without her. Her team won last year. I am sure you will win this year too!"  
Naru choked on his cake and Lin nearly dropped his cup. Mai sighs. This is why she did not tell them. This is why she wore long sleeves every day to work. Boxing had given her muscles and bruises.  
Naru, incredulously, asks, "Mai?"  
"But you were so clumsy," Lin asks, gazing down at her. Now he knows what seemed off about her when they met again. She looked fitter, a little taller and he thought it was the fabric, but apparently it was just an athletic body she was hiding.  
"Oh," Naru smiles, "You were in for the adrenaline rush you used to get from ghost hunting." Jerk Naru returns, Mai thinks ruefully.  
Mai starts blushing. Okay yes, that was one of her reasons. The other reasons were, "Also, I thought it would be a fun way to stay fit, channel all my energy and in school, I could never participate in anything." Now, will Lin stop looking at her like she had suddenly turned into an alien or something?  
Naru scoffs. Lin smiles, "That is good." Mai stares at him. He has this look in his eyes that makes her think he has something figured out. She gulps. His eyes are just so dark and sexy, that they lead to her train of thought to hit a wall every now and then.  
"Hey Mai," Ayako grins, "Invite them too."  
"Yeah. I want to see Mai in action," Naru smirks. Jerk, Mai thinks.  
She fetches two extra passes and hands them to Naru and Lin. Her fingers brush against Lin's and she wonders if the electricity she felt was imaginary. She takes a seat and nods, nope it must have been in my head.

Lin is back at his apartment that he no longer shares with Naru. He is finally happy to have a place of his own. He takes off his jacket, checking the pockets. His hand brushes against something smooth and small. The pass! He realises with a jolt. He brings them out and smiles. This can be fun.

 **A/N. This is after Lin and Naru were in London for two years. I guessed Lin's age. The older the better. Huhu. And I promise to get back to my Shermione fic after I get this plot bunny out of my head. This had been annoying me for sometime. Also the world needs more LinxMai.**


	2. Chapter 2

Sweat trickled down her face. Her vision was blurry. She wipes her forehead. This is a stalemate. This was their last chance. She glimpsed at the scoreboard. Shibuya University: 1-0-1, Fujishima Technical Academy: 0-1-0-1. Penalty rounds were always nerve-wracking. The entire stadium watches, in pin-drop silence.  
Mai takes three long deep breaths. She focuses on her goal. She can do this. She will do this. She moves three steps back. She settles on a plan of attack  
Lin watches with bated breath. He gasps when he realises what she is doing. She turns her body right as she stretches her left leg to kick the ball. The goalkeeper gets confused as to which direction the ball will come. The goalkeeper swerves right when the ball flies in straight in the net.  
The crowd roars. Shibuya wins by three goals! Mai gets picked up by her teammates. Her SPR family cheers her on, even Naru, who stands and claps. He cannot believe his eyes. It was impressive.  
Mai turns to look at her friends in the stand. Her happiness intensifies when she see Lin standing and grinning while clapping. If you ask her she will deny that she played extra well just for him. She might punch you.

After a quick shower, changing into a powder pink dress, white sweater and ballet flats and a mini celebration with her teammates, Mai swiped on her lipgloss as she raced out of her college to the group waiting outside. When they saw her coming, Yasu, Houshou, Ayako and John started chanting, "Mai! Mai! Mai!"  
She blushed, "Oh god guys stop!"  
Lin gave the twenty year old girl a lookover. Two years of running around for hours on fields had shaped her calves in an irresistible way. He looked away when his shikis started to chuckle. What is he even doing, noticing and appreciating the way her legs looked?  
John, an avid football fan, exclaimed, "That was the smartest thing ever! You turned your body in different directions to confuse the goalkeeper and shot in straight! That WAS GENIUS!" He raised his fists in the air.  
"Haha! I don't know but I thought it would be a good idea to do so," Mai murmurs.  
"Oh come on! Don't be so shy, or modest!"  
That could have gone on forever if Yasu's stomach didn't start grumbling.

It was a fun dinner. Even Naru praised her skills. Mai choked on her yakitori then. This semi-nice Naru was taking some use to.  
Later they were all walking when somehow she and Lin had ended up walking side by side. He was musing quietly at the transformation of the girl beside him. Today was honestly spectacular. The eighteen year old he last saw versus the one now was so different, yet…He cleared his throat, "Mai?"  
Mai says, "Yes?"  
"Can I say something? Just nod if I am right, okay?" She nods, he continues, "You took to sports so every night you could be so tired that when you sleep, you don't dream at all?" Another nod. "So, because of Gene?" Another nod. "And other spirits too, right?" Another nod, and a sigh. So this is why the last case they were on, Mai was scared stiff from one of her dreams. She was out of practice.  
He did really get to the core of it all. This was her one big reason. She figured if she was dead tired, she would have a dreamless sleep. And she did. Also, the astral projection stopped. However, if she fell asleep in class then she would leave her body behind. Her Feudal Japanese History class bored her to death.  
Lin sighs, "Mai. I know how you must feel." He places a hand on her shoulder and smiles a little. And yet, she is still Mai Taniyama. They had stopped. They were facing each other. Her brown eyes sparkling and his dark eyes soothing. She couldn't turn her gaze away, and for some reason his eyes chose to remain fixed on her. For a second it felt that they were the only ones on the street.  
Mai smiles, fighting tears, "Thank you Lin-san."  
Lin shakes his head. He is about to say something when Ayako shouts, "Hey you two! You can stare into each other's eyes later!"  
Mai blushes and stumbles forward, while Lin fixes his tie which did not fixing and follows Mai.  
That was odd, Mai thinks, her skipping a few beats. She needs to be careful. She dreads letting Ayako get wind of her feelings for Lin. That would be disastrous.  
What was that, Lin asks himself, his shikis chuckling again. He frowns, his shikis sometimes pissed him off so much.


	3. Chapter 3

"Mai tea! And prepare some extra, we have a client coming," a pause, Mai waits, "Please." She pumps her fist into the air. Victory.  
She stands up and goes about preparing tea. Naru's favourite black tea and today, she had bought some oolong tea earlier for Lin. She smacks her head, trying to wipe the goofy grin off her face.  
"Are you trying to turn on your brain? That might cause more harm than good," a condescending voice speaks.  
Mai turns around to see Naru standing by the door, glancing over the shelves. She mutters a curse under her breath and says, "The cookies are there," pointing to somewhere on his left.  
Her attention is diverted by the whistling kettle. She goes about dividing the water in two cups. Then she hears Naru chuckling. She whips her head around, scowling at him, "What now?"  
"Oolong is his favourite," he quips then leaves as if this was a play and that was his character's parting shot.  
Just like the kettle, she could feel hot steam pouring out of her ears. If Naru figures out her weird, mixed feelings about Lin then he could easily blab it to the older guy. Then whatever progress she had, regarding her and Lin's friendship, would be forever destroyed.  
She places the two cups and she is about to enter Naru's room first when the door opens slightly, and a clear, feminine voice says, "Um, hello?"  
She places the tray on the coffee table and goes to welcome their client. She chirps, "Hello, I am Mai Taniyama. Please come in."  
"Thank you. My name is Sakura Kawaguchi," she says as she walks in. she looks no older than thirty. She has a heavy shirt on with denims. Her hair is not very elaborately styled. She looks kind of stressed. Mai frowns at her aura. It is disturbed, anxious and scared. In the two years, she has acquired an even stronger intuition that soon developed into her understanding people's aura.  
Mai gestures her to come in and take a seat. First she knocks on Lin's door, "Client, Lin-san." Then she repeats the same on Naru's door. She goes back to the kitchen to prepare some chamomile tea. Miss or Mrs Kawaguchi needed it.  
Mai returns to see that neither men had started interrogating but were calmly sipping their teas. Lin had a slight quirk to his lip. That manages to make her very glad indeed. She hands their client the tea and takes her seat under the window.  
Naru says, "You may start Kawaguchi-san." They were waiting for her. Mai's smile just gets broader.  
"Yes," she says, running one slender finger round the edge of her cup, wiping away the condensation, "I am from a small town in Kyushu. My husband, Kenji Kawaguchi and I live there with our three children." Suddenly a sob racks her body and she rummages through her bag for a tissue. Mai gets the tissue box and hands it to her. She gives Mai a grateful smile.  
The men share a glance. Naru says, "Kawaguchi-san? It is okay, take your time." New Naru often tried to be considerate.  
She nods. Finally composing herself, she begins again, "It is not so much that I am scared for my life. It is just that I want my children to be safe. Okay," she takes a deep breath, "the Kawaguchi family has a curse on it. Every thirty years or so, the males die in quick succession. And we don't know why. My husband and my son are in danger Shibuya-san!" The tears start flowing.  
Mai sits down beside her and rubs her back in circles as she cries into her hands. She whispers, "First the writing with blood on the wall. Then the fire. Then poor Kaito-chan. Then Masao almost fell into the lake. The spirit by the shrine. But…but…my husband refuses to believe in it. He is crazy! His belief is more important than his own son!" She wipes away her tears and sits up straight. Mai resumes her previous seat. Sakura continues, "That is why I am here. Please Shibuya-san. My husband and I haven't seen eye-to-eye when I told him of my decision to come here, for your help." She pleads with her eyes.  
Mai clutches her chest and fervently prays Naru would say yes. Her prayers are heard when Naru says, "Be ready to expect us in a couple of days. We need a fairly large room as a base and living quarters."  
The woman was ready to cry again, but this time in happiness and relief instead.

 **Day One  
** The Kawaguchis lived in the Yufuin prefecture in the island of Kyushu. It is a charming onsen resort town. The Kawaguchis owned an onsen by a lake and also were caretakers of a local shrine there.  
Mai skips down from the car and smiles up at the huge cherry tree in bloom near the entrance to the equally charming Kawaguchi house. She is impressed by the moderately sized building. She spies a one storey, long annexe building running parallel. Sakura, who picked them up from the station, spots her staring at it. She explains, "That is the restaurant. We also provide accommodations. Weary travellers usually rest there. We have two guests now since season is over. Well one of them isn't actually a guest. More like family."  
Houshou enquires, "Family?"  
"Yes. My brother-in-law, Sentaro Nohara is here with his son Hitoshi, and the other guest is a college girl called Kaorin Toboso," Sakura answers. Then her face darkened, "My husband is staying there too. We aren't talking." She cheers up when two girls and a young boy come running from the back of the house. Mai realises that this must be her kids.  
They all try hugging their mother at the same time. Sakura kneels down. Another young woman follows the kids. She looks older than Sakura. She is dressed simply in a long skirt and shirt. She has short hair and her eyes are grey. Mai looks back at Sakura who had darker eyes. The woman smiles at the SPR gang and introduces herself, "I am Tsugumi Kurosawa. Sakura's older sister."  
Sakura straightens up and says, "I called her over after my husband moved to the annexe."  
Naru nods. He then orders Lin and Mai to set up base. Sakura and Tsugumi show them in. The kids latch on to John because they instantly become fascinated by a foreigner amongst them. The boy asks, "Do you speak Japanese?"  
When John replies in affirmative, the girls squeal. John realises they are semi-identical twins and must be no more than four years old. One of the girls say, "I am Tomohiro and this is Noriyuki," pointing to her twin, "and this is our brother Masao," pointing to the boy. Then the girls say together, "Nice to meet you!"  
John laughs, "Nice to meet you too! I am John Brown. I am a priest."  
Masao says, "John-chan! Come on, you must meet our cousin!" With that they drag John in another direction. While the others were walking down a long hallway, the kids drag John down a narrow corridor perpendicular to the entrance. He opens his mouth to protest but gives up. The corridor stops at a gate, which Tomohiro pushes to reveal a small garden with a koi pond. A boy of ten or so squats beside the pond with his back to them.  
"Hitoshi!" Noriyuki shouts. John sighs, no way can he leave them now. Children always find him more fascinating.

The rest of them—Mai, Lin, Naru, Ayako, Houshou and Masako—follow the sisters to their base, a fairly spacious room on the second floor. Mai and Lin instantly start arranging their equipment when suddenly Ayako realises Masako is not with them. She exits the room and retraces her steps. She spots Masako standing, staring with a blank look on her face. Ayako frowns when she feels a chill run down her spine. She whispers, "Masako?"  
Masako nods, "I feel it too. Things aren't what they seem to be." She and Ayako then go upstairs again.  
As soon as they reach base, Masako says, "I think the room at the right side of the wall, near the stairs, is a hotspot."  
"Yeah," Ayako says, "Creepy feeling."  
Tsugumi frowns, "That is Masao's room." Sakura gasps, putting her hand over her mouth. Her sister hugs her shoulders.  
Naru nods his head at Lin. Lin nods back and picks up the thermal camera. Mai too gets the hint as she picks up the microphone and another camera. They go downstairs. Naru turns to the sisters and asks, "Now, give me the entire story."

Lin is the first to enter the seven year old boy's room. As soon as Mai enters, she feels as if someone had doused her in ice cold water. Then she gasps out loud. Lin turns around, "Taniyama-san?"  
She stares bug eyed at the shadow she sees crouching on the ceiling rapidly disappear. Lin follows her gaze, even though he cannot see anything, he feels his shikis bristling. He says, in a solemn voice, "Taniyama-san, work quickly."  
Mai didn't need to be told that twice.

When they return, the sisters have left and Naru is deep in thought. When he sees Lin, he says, "Lin, start taking notes."  
Lin nods and boots his laptop up. Naru begins, "Sakura's mother-in-law, Minami Kawaguchi, was stricken with cancer about a year ago. Before she died, she told her a story: when Minami had married into the family, her two brothers-in-law, Takayuki and Seiji, died consecutively in gruesome ways. Takayuki was murdered while Seiji got decapitated by a train. Having to arrange two funerals, so close in succession, Minami's father-in-law, Hiro Kawaguchi started spouting nonsense about a curse that has plagued them. A curse where only the male members are killed. Occurs every thirty years. Minami said he saw strange writings on the wall that no one in the family could see. He blamed himself. He soon committed suicide. All this happened in 1972. Now, thirty years later in 2002, in January, Ichigo Kawaguchi, Kenji-san's brother was killed by a fire in the restaurant's storeroom, killing him on spot. The Fire Department still hasn't found how the fire started in the first place. When he died, Tomohiro Kawaguchi saw the spirit of her grandmother. Then, during Ichigo's funeral, Sakura and Kaito, Kenji-san's younger brother saw a message written on the wall. It was written 'See Tamako-chan?' in red. Kaito-san said it was blood. But by the time they went to get their family, the writing had vanished. Now, a month ago, Kaito got hit by a truck. He has been in a coma since then. A week ago, there was more writing on the wall, this time 'Curse you all to death' written on her son, Masao's, room. Finally Sakura decided to get help."  
Lin perfectly kept up to speed with Naru's narration. Mai is too engrossed by the way his slender fingers danced over the laptop keys. That doesn't mean she did not hear anything. She did, and it made her a little scared. She says, "Uh, Naru?"  
"Yes?" Naru says, in a monotonous voice.  
"I saw something in Masao-chan's room. A shadow on the ceiling."  
"Hmm, my shikis were agitated," Lin says, his hand rubbing his chin.  
"Then there is a presence, I felt something too," Masako says quietly, "I feel…I feel like it might be dangerous."  
"That is all right, but," John, who had joined them when Sakura was in the midst of her tale, "who is Tamako? They are all Kawaguchi."  
"Hmm," Naru crosses his arms, "Masako, let Yasu know and tell him to search for any Tamakos in Kyushu."  
"Gladly," Masako smiled and very eagerly left the room to call Yasu. Mai grinned at the change in Masako. She is more relaxed, friendly and nicer now that she is dating Yasu. It was adorable.  
John shakes his head, "I still don't understand how Masako and Yasu happened."  
"From Naru to Yasu," Houshou grinned, "Masako is a strange one." Suddenly he maliciously grins at Mai, who shrinks back, then he says, "Hey Mai, now you are rival-free for Naru's affection!"  
Ayako hits Houshou, while Mai blushes and Naru smirks, "Huh, Mai likes someone else now."  
Mai nearly has a heart attack. Naru smirks at her. Bou and Ayako look at Naru, both equally surprised. Then Naru says, "Anyway, Lin, Mai set up cameras in these areas." He hands Lin a list.  
As soon as they leave, Bou pounces on Naru, "Naru what do you know?"  
"Nothing. All of you do a walkover," he says grimly.  
Ayako, John and Houshou leave, knowing very well that was how that conversation ended.

 **A/N. I get my information of names, honorifics and places from mostly anime and Google. If I mess up, let me know. Now on a complete unrelated note, DOES ANYBODY HERE LOVE BIGBANG?! CUZ I AM GOING CRAZY!**


	4. Chapter 4

Mai finds a boy of five hanging around by the foot of the stairs. She figures he might be Sentaro Nohara's son. The boy seems scared at first, then says, "Are you the ghost hunters?"  
"Yes. I am Mai and this is Lin-san. Are you Hitoshi?" Mai asks, all smiles. Hitoshi relaxes as he nods. She says, "Can you help us find this places?" She turns to Lin, who hands her the list. Hitoshi smiles and gestures them to follow him.  
Lin is lost in thoughts as he follows Mai and Hitoshi Nohara. He is thinking about what Naru said earlier. He did wonder if Mai still liked Naru because he felt that since two years had gone by, there was no way she could still feel the same. She has grown in more ways than one. He smiles, for instance she showed no signs of strain when they were carrying the heavier equipment. She seems mature and far more centered than the last time he saw her. She has grown older, yet the world had not completely inured her. All in all, it is kind of appealing. He is getting along well with this new Mai. But what did Naru mean? Was it some guy in her college? If so, then how would Naru know? Did he miss something when they were at Mai's college?  
Then he halts in his tracks. Why is he thinking of such things in the first place? He looks at the girl in front of him. She might have grown a couple inches. Her hair was longer. He watches the way her ponytail swings with every step she takes. The fabric of her capris hugs her form in a very appealing way. He shakes his head as he looks out of the sliding doors that led to a small garden and chastises himself, Kuojo Lin, what the hell, you are ten years older than her. She is Mai Taniyama, and it is a crazy idea to think of her like that. His shikis find his frustration funny.  
Mai suddenly realises Lin is no longer walking. She turns around and sighs. The sun was setting and the bright orange light fell on Lin. He had shorter hair now. She thinks if it is possible he was getting more handsome as he grew older. That thought strikes her a little. Age. And that is why he will never see her as a woman, but always as a girl of sixteen who waltzed into his life unwarranted and unneeded. It makes her a little sad. She clears her throat, "Lin-san?"  
Lin starts a little. He fixes his attention on her. Her huge brown eyes transfixed on him. He thinks they looked a little sad. He says, "Yes, coming."  
Later, when they had put cameras in all the rooms on Naru's list, and they were at the last room—the burnt storeroom at the rear of the restaurant—when Kenji Kawaguchi appeared.  
Mai stares at the tall, heavy-set man. He looks stressed. Kenji stares at the strangers, wondering. Then he sees the camera. His face gets twisted. He scowls, "You, Sakura brought you here, didn't she?"  
Hitoshi jumps in front of Mai. He throws his hands, as if to shield her and says, with as much braveness as a five year old could muster, "Uncle, they want to help!"  
That only enrages Kenji more. He shouts, "Help! Ghosts don't exist!"  
"No they do! I saw grandma! And this other lady too!"  
This surprises Lin and Mai. Kenji gets agitated more. Mai can see the veins on his neck popping. He shouts, "You insolent brat!" He raises his hand, and is about to hit Hitoshi when Mai grabs it mid-air. Kenji gasps as her grip gets stronger. Her eyes are basically shooting fire. She shouts, "How dare you hit a child!"  
Kenji says roughly, "Don't you—OUCH!" Mai puts some more pressure. Hitoshi clutches her sweater and she can feel the child shivering. That just fuels her anger more. The fingers on her other hand curls into a ball. His aura is mad, but she can see the stress he is under. However, that doesn't condone hitting a child.  
Lin, who had been seeing the entire situation, first with concern about Mai's safety and then with quiet amusement, finally speaks, his voice deadly calm, "Kawaguchi-san, she is a kickboxer, if I were you, I would not make her mad."  
Right then another man enters. He is leaner, and taller, with hair that was greying at the temple even though he did not look any older than Lin or Kenji. He takes one look at the situation and instantly he looks alarmed. "Kenji-kun!"  
Kenji lowers his hand after Mai finally releases him from her iron grip. He looks defeated. He turns around and walks off like a wounded animal. Hitoshi runs to the man and hugs his knees. He ruffles his hair and says, "I am Sentaro Nohara. I am Hitoshi's father."  
Mai exhales and puts back on her pleasant smile. She says, "This is Kuojo Lin and I am Mai Taniyama."  
Sentaro makes a choking noise. Hitoshi smiles up at his dad, "Like mama."  
Mai looks bemused. She glances at Lin who looks confused. Sentaro scratches his head and explains, "Uh, my wife is, sorry, was named Mai too."  
Mai relaxes again. Lin says, "That is why Hitoshi found himself comfortable around her."  
"Yeah. She died two years ago. Pulmonary hypertension. She was also around your height," he apologetically smiles at her. Lin bristles a little. What is with that comely smile directed at her?  
Mai cannot help but smile back. Nohara-san had a pleasant face. Lin bristles some more. If he was a porcupine, he'd be shooting spikes at Sentaro by now. He grumbles, "We should head back to base now."  
Sentaro says, "I suppose you are here because of Sakura-chan?"  
ai says, "So, do you believe her?"  
He scratches his head again, "I don't know. I am willing to keep an open mind."  
"Unlike Kenji-san."  
I don't blame him. He lost his brother and now Kaito lies comatose. I think he wants to believe but…"  
"It is okay. I understand. I am sorry," Mai gives him her most brilliant smile.  
Lin goes, "Ahem." Mai's behaviour was annoying him now.  
"Oh yes. We need to go. Nice meeting you Nohara-san!"  
"Same here Taniyama-san!" Sentaro says and then taking Hitoshi's hand leave.  
Mai whispers, "Poor boy."  
Lin looks at her and in the descending twilight he is surprised by her eyes shining with unshed tears. The frown melts when he remembers that Mai too lost a parent at that age. Since he doesn't have the right words, he takes her hand in his own. He laces their fingers and gently squeezes. She looks up, eyes shining, cheeks tinged a faded red.  
Mai was lost in her memories when she feels Lin entwining their hands. The contact jolts her and sets her heart racing. She turns her head, to look at him. Her lungs forget to work when the evenings' shadows wrap around them and gives the soft look in his eyes a more mysterious tinge. Her little trip down flashback lane gets interrupted when the attraction she felt for him comes surging back. No, she cannot give in. She ignores how perfectly her hands fit in his. So she squeezes back and releases her hand from his grip, and mumbles, "Thank you Lin-san."  
Lin was wondering what she was thinking when she looked at him all funny. He couldn't look away so he held her gaze, anxious to see what she would do. Then when she takes back her hand from him, he is surprised to see how disappointed he feels. At her departure he shakes his head and looks down at his own hand. Is it him, or things are getting stranger?


	5. Chapter 5

**Day Two  
** It is sometime after midnight. Lin is bored to death watching the monitors. There has been zero activity. The window is open. It is quite cold. He looks out and is stunned by the view. He stands up and walks to the window. Leaning on his elbows he enjoys the beauty of the far away peak of Mount Yufu adorned in silvery moonlight. Suddenly he hears a sound behind him. Footsteps. He whips around, ready to unleash his familiars.  
Mai yelps a little at his ferocious expression. She sees him relaxing a little when he realises it is only her. She walks in further and smiles, "I come in peace, and green tea."  
Lin's lips twitch a little. Mai cannot tell in the darkness. He finds himself feeling glad that it was her. She places the tray beside the monitors and joins him near the window. He turns around to look at the mountain again. She closes her eyes and sighs, "It is so beautiful."  
"I was thinking the same thing," he says, "Can I ask why you are not sleeping? Did you dream?"  
She shakes her head, "That is what's so weird. After the shadow I thought I might dream something. Instead I couldn't sleep at all. So I was reading when Ayako woke up and scolded me to turn off the light. So I decided to check on you."  
"Hmm," he rubs his chin. He sits down again and picks up a cup. He notices there are two cups. A few seconds later, she joins him. So goes on, for an hour or so, both sharing a comfortable silence as they diligently stare at monitors.  
An hour in their monitoring, Mai gasps and points at the image projected from Masao's room. Lin follows her finger and frowns as well. There it is. A shape forming from the ceiling down. However it does not hover long as a few seconds later it disappears. Mai glances at the temperature recorder. She says, "Lin-san, look."  
Lin's frown deepens when he reads four degrees Celsius on the machine. He shares a concerned look with Mai. Thank goodness Sakura had taken Masao from that room.  
Mai asks, "If it is a curse, then what is a spirit doing here?"  
"Good question."

When morning arrived, Lin is the first to wake up. He remembers Mai yawning and him ordering her to go back to her room. Instead, she did not. And soon, her head had bumped into his shoulder. He had shook his head and gently manoeuvred her, so she lay flat on the floor beside him. He then foraged in the closet for a blanket. After finding one, he had thrown one over her. Near dawn, he was struggling to stay awake. Giving up he lay down too, making sure he was far away from her (the room was big enough for evasion). His last thought was that if he was going to stay awake here every night he might ask his bed to be shifted here.  
When he wakes up, he sits up and stares at the opposite wall for a while. He checks the time. It is six thirty. Then he looks to his right to see Mai Taniyama still sleeping. He watches her sleep for a few seconds when he realises that it is an extremely creepy thing to do so. He pushes the blanket away. He stands and stretches. Maybe he should wake her up. Maybe he should check the recordings. He does the latter.  
He sits down in front of the screens again, making sure no part of her feet were touching him. He replays everything. After fifteen minutes of tape, he pauses at the image projected from the corridor in front of the guy's sleeping quarters. It was somewhere near dawn, maybe right after he lay down. A figure of an elderly man dressed in clothing from, maybe, the eighteenth century roaming the corridor. He doesn't stay too long.  
"Whoa, who is that?"  
He jumps. Without noticing, Mai had woken up and is sitting beside him with messy bed hair.  
"Mai, tea," a sleepy Naru pulls back the door, yawning and rubbing his eyes.  
Mai frowns. Oh well, she cannot expect him to nice always then. She stands up and leaves. Naru takes her place. He looks at the image, his brows furrowing, "What is that?"  
Lin shrugs, "The temperatures are low. The man was outside your door."  
I can see that," Naru smirks, "Mai kept you company?" The blankets strewn on the floors is not missed by him.  
A little colour suffuses Lin's high cheekbones. He grumbles, "Don't be so crude Naru."  
"I insinuated nothing."  
Lin bites the insides of his cheek. Shit.  
Caught you, Naru thinks, smugly victorious that his guess was right.  
Lin says aloud, "Uh, there was other activity too." He shows his boss the other recording.  
Naru asks, "Why are there spirits?"  
Lin nods, "We were thinking the same thing."  
"We?"  
Lin didn't have to look a Naru to feel his smirk pointed at him. He ignores that and moves on, "Any news from Yasuhara?"  
"Not yet."

Mai finds the kitchen soon enough. She enters, clutching Naru's preferred box of tea brand in her hands. She sees Sakura preparing tea as well. Mai says, "Good morning!"  
Sakura turns around and smiles, "Good morning, Taniyama-san."  
"Mai, call me Mai." She brings some water to boil.  
Sakura bringing out cups for her, says, "I could do that." She says pointing at the kettle.  
"No, no. My boss only allows me to make his tea. He is a slave-driver." She laughs at Sakura's horrified expression, who too giggles a little when she realises the younger woman is joking. Mai asks, "Earl Grey?"  
Sakura nods, her eyes sad, "My husband prefers this."  
"Uh, aren't you, uh, fighting?"  
"Yes. We are. But I still love him. He is still my husband and the father of my children. He will probably starve if I don't periodically leave food trays outside his room."  
Mai finishes preparing her tea and smiles. There are all kinds of love in this world. Even when they are fighting, she cannot stop caring and he cannot let her efforts to go waste. She asks, "Sakura-chan? Wait, can I call you that?" the older woman acquiesces, "I will help you prepare breakfast, please." Sakura nods, taken aback for a while. "Wait while I enable my boss's tea addiction!"  
Oh god, I feel so bad for her, Mai thinks as she rushes out of the kitchen.

After breakfast, the gang sits down to prepare a plan of action. Everyone had one question: was it curse or spirit? After hearing everybody, Naru said, "Okay, Masako take John and check every nook and cranny. Matsuzaka and Monk, same for you. This could very well become a case like that Cursed House. I am checking up on the history of the house."  
They went their ways. Lin started typing and Mai decided to roam outside a bit.  
The surroundings are gorgeous. Beyond the cherry tree lies a lake and beyond that lake lies a shrine. Mai wonders if it is worth investigating. The lake is enormous. It takes her a while to get to the shrine. She spots a rough, dirt path leading from the house to the shrine. When she gets closer to the shrine she notices another, metalled road, leading from the shrine and then curving around a cluster of bamboo trees. She reckons that that road might connect the town to the shrine.  
The shrine looks old. The paved path looks worn out from usage. The stone foxes look weather-beaten. She enters and feels tranquil. She breathes out in relief. This place it didn't feel like that other shrine by the sea. It feels peaceful. She can hear birds. Then she sees a young girl, maybe her age, appearing by another side from the main building. She has straight black hair open, she is dressed in a simple white dress and her head is down, as if in deep thought. She is shocked when she sees Mai. She clutches her chest, then breaks into a huge smile. Her fringe frames her face well. Well, she is very beautiful, Mai muses.  
Mai waves at her, "Hi!"  
The girl gets nearer, "Hi. Are you a local? I was wondering if you could tell me—"  
Mai waves her hands frantically, "No, no I am not a local. I am staying over at the Kawaguchis." She jerks her thumb at the house across the lake.  
"Oh," she blinks. She has longer eyelashes than me, Mai thinks. "Actually, I am staying there too. I am Kaorin Toboso. I came down from Hakata."  
"Are you on holiday?"  
"Y-yes," she says, "You look like you are in college like me."  
She is lying, Mai thinks. Aloud, "Yes. I am in college. Second year."  
"Me too!"  
They explore the charming little place together, yet, Mai couldn't shake off the feeling that something is seriously wrong with the girl.

Ayako and Houshou are checking out the entire ground floor. Ayako is chanting softly under her breath when she hears her husband shouting from another room. She runs, trying to locate Houshou. She finally finds him in Masao's room. Her heart leaps into her mouth when she sees him clutching his stomach, kneeling on the ground. She rushes over and clutches his shoulder, "Houshou!"  
He smiles up at her. She cups his face and asks, her voice shaky, "What? Are you okay? Are you hurt?"  
"Yes and no. I was checking around, trying to place wards when the room got really cold. Then I felt icy fingers grip my neck. A woman whispered, "Not you" and drove their hand through me. It hurts a bit," Houshou explains.  
She sighs and places her head against his. She whispers, "I used to be never scared."  
Houshou grabs her elbow and whispers, "Me too."  
"So you are saying you are a scaredy monk?" she smirks.  
"Hey! I am not the self-styled shrine maiden here!"  
And some things don't change.

Lin watches the couple fighting on his screen. He had been alarmed when Houshou shouted and fell to his knees. Then Ayako came. He had busied himself in typing again giving them their privacy. But he was forced to bring back his attention to it when they started arguing again. He grins. It was always obvious these two had a thing for each other. He wasn't surprised to learn they were married. Good to know marriage didn't change them entirely.  
He wonders how Masako and John were doing. Then a little voice asks, where is Mai? He sends a shiki to check. Prevention is better than cure. It is always dangerous to let that girl wander on her own.

Masako and John are exploring the attic. He is sprinkling holy water and offering prayers. She trudges over to a corner. A particular wooden trunk attracts her attention. She wipes the dust settled on it with her kimono sleeve. It is rectangular with varnish that had faded over years and she sees a small floral design on it. She picks it up. It is a little heavy. She says, "John? I found something. Let's take it to Naru."  
John nods and they go back to base. As soon as they enter, Naru asks, "Is the attic…"  
Masako shakes her head. She shows him the box, saying, "I think it is from the Edo period."  
All heads turn to look at her. Houshou, who had arrived with Ayako five minutes earlier, laughs, "Oh my God, Yasu's nerd has rubbed off on you!"  
Masako blushes as Ayako jabs Houshou in his ribs. Lin takes the box from her. He sees it is locked. Just then his shiki returned. It curled around his arm and conveyed that Mai is all right she was coming this way with a guest. Lin frowned.  
A minute later Mai barges in with a girl of her age. All heads turn to look at her. Mai introduces her, "This is Kaorin Toboso! She is here on holiday."  
Lin coolly observes that Kaorin is beautiful but something felt off. He looks at her keenly when her eyes fall on the box in his lap. Her eyes register surprise for a second but then she is back to normal. His frown deepens.  
Kaorin says, "Hello."  
Mai says, not missing how he only had eyes for Kaorin, "That is our boss, Kazuya Shibuya. That is Bou-san and Ayako. This is John Brown and that is Kuojo Lin. We all work together."  
"I heard what you all do. Sounds fascinating!"  
"Toboso-san, you believe in ghosts?" Naru asks.  
She nods her head, "I do. I believe that there are things that can never be easily explained." She then points at the box, "What is that?"  
"A writing box. It was in the room," Lin answers, narrowing his eyes at her. Everybody looks at him, wondering why he lied, but holding their silence.  
"Looks old."  
"Yes. Kawaguchi-san let us use to prop equipment."  
"Oh cool. See you guys around then. Bye! Bye Mai! It was so nice to meet you!" Kaorin leaves.  
"Taniyama-san get in, and shut the door," Lin orders.  
Mai does as she is told. His cold voice scares her a little. Lin asks, "Where did you meet her?"  
"By the shrine," she replies.  
"Lin-san?" John says, "Why did you lie?"  
"Lie?" Mai asks.  
"Yes," Masako says, "I found that box in the attic, Sakura-san did not give it to us."  
"I did not like the look she gave to the box," Lin explains. Oh, so that is why she was staring at him and she at him, Mai thinks, mentally sighing in relief.  
Mai nods, "Hmm, when I met her I did feel like she is up to no good. I did not want to bring her here but she insisted so much. Sorry guys."  
Naru waves his hand, "She stays here, and she would have showed up eventually. We couldn't actually avoid her. Do you think she is a criminal of some sorts? I mean if Masako is right, that box is an antique. She could be here to steal it."  
"Antique?" Mai crouches in front of Lin. She leans over, her head almost knocking Lin's chin. She places her palm flat on the top. She gasps when a vision of an old man and the smell of parchment and ink attack her olfactory senses.  
Lin was edgy because of how close she chose to sit in front of him. Their knees were almost touching. Her green apple shampoo was the right amount of tang and sweet, just like her. He was interrupted from the unexpected train of thought when she gasped. She jerks her hand away and shakes her head repeatedly. Her eyes are round in surprise. Lin puts away the box. He grabs her by her shoulders. She stops her heavy breathing and looks squarely at Lin. Lin asks, "Taniyama-san, what happened? You saw something when you touched the box didn't you?"  
She says, "I saw an old man. Did anyone else smell parchment and ink?"  
Only green apple, Lin scoffs. He says, "I didn't."  
"Yes, Mai. Neither did we," Houshou says.  
Naru slowly says, "You saw an old man. You had a vision. Interesting." Lin looks at him sharply.  
Mai blushes, "I don't know. It freaked me out because I have never done that."  
"Hmm."  
The door slides open and Tsugumi enters. She smiles, "Hi, sorry to interrupt but would you like some lunch now?"

While they are about to start eating, Kaorin enters along with Sentaro and his son. Hitoshi spots Mai and sits down beside her. Mai smiles. She is starting to like him immensely.  
When everybody has done eating, Mai and John offer to help. Mai is on her third plate when she hears a bell ringing. Tsugumi goes. Sakura says, "I am sorry. It is just, my mother-in-law's death anniversary is in two days, and our family has a tradition of offering prayers for our departed for the first five years. My other brother-in-law will be here too. It will get crowded. I think it is them, they did say they would be here somewhere in the afternoon."  
Mai shakes her head, "It is okay. No problem. Um, can I ask you something?" Sakura nods, "The children have been seeing a spirit. Do you think it is your mother-in-law?"  
Sakura sighs, "Could be. She was the children's favourite. Why? Do you think she is harmful?"  
"No. I have a feeling she is trying to protect them," Mai whispers.  
Sakura nods, fighting tears. John says, "Mai might be right. She seems benevolent. I heard the tale from Hitoshi."  
"What did he say?" Mai asks.  
"He said he saw his grandmother here, in the garden. She just smiled and waved. He says she is still the same granny."  
"I think she can't move on because she wants to protect her family."  
Sakura sniffs. Mai throws an arm around her, "There, there Sakura-chan."  
"Thank you Mai-chan. You have been so nice to me. I am happy to know you," Sakura says, in between sobs.  
"That is Mai for you!" John says.  
Unbeknownst to them, Lin hears the last part. He had come down with Naru's order of tea. Tsugumi arrives right then. She asks, "Lin-san, right? Did you want something?"  
"'Uh," Lin is saved from explaining when Mai comes out and says, "Lin-san? Let me guess, tea?" Lin smiles. Mai sighs and returns to prepare tea.  
Lin quickly makes his retreat. As he is walking upstairs he goes over to what Sakura said. She has been affected by Mai too. The girl has an amazing power of making a place in every person's heart she meets. Her sunny disposition and effervescence just cannot be ignored. She is unique. And before you know it, you cannot imagine how life would have been like without her. He is near the base when he remembers the night two years ago.  
Lin wasn't the one for parties. When he saw Mai escaping, he made a split second decision to follow her. He still has not fathomed why he did so. He half-thought he would find her crying. But she wasn't. She was just standing there. Then when she hugged her and said, "Thank you Lin-san. I am glad I walked into the old school building and nearly killed you. Well, uh, sorry for that" and giggled, he found himself grinning. He came to Japan hating everything Japanese, but he knew he was leaving a changed man. Before he could stop himself he kissed her on her forehead.  
He looks down at his hands. He still remembers the texture of her hair. Today when she was leaning in, he knows how hard it was for him to not touch her hair, slide down and brush her cheek. He runs his fingers through his hair. No, not Mai Taniyama. He cannot like her because…well, he could only see their age difference as a hindrance. There is nothing else he can think of as a negative point.  
He had followed her that night because he wanted to. He kissed her forehead because he wanted to. He thought about her in London every now and then because he could not control it. Sometimes he would see something, or do something, and he would wonder what Mai would have done, how Mai would have reacted. He remembers making hot chocolate and throwing it down the sink because it reminded him of her. Like it or not, she was always hovering in the back of his mind for the past two years.  
Oh no, he thinks, his heart dropping to his knees, I am not falling for her, am I?


	6. Chapter 6

Mai is soon introduced to Ryo Kasuga, a guy not much older than her. He has bleached hair and multiple piercings on his left ear. A tattoo peeked from the collar of his button-down shirt. Mai tries smiling cordially but then he grins lecherously and she is instantly grossed out. Not that she has anything against tattoos or piercings (her roommate, Rin, has enough of both), it is just she doesn't need to read his mind by the looks he was giving her. She is going to stay far away from him.  
She excuses herself with Naru's tea and runs to the sanctuary where Lin would be either typing or staring at monitors.  
She passes Naru his tea and tells him of what Hitoshi told John. Naru nods as he leaves the base to attend a phone call.  
"So there are three spirits so far. One is the shadow we keep seeing and it attacked Takigawa, the second is possibly Minami Kawaguchi, and the other is an unidentified man in eighteenth century clothing," Lin recounts.  
"Do you think it is the house then?" Mai asks.  
Naru re-enters, "No. The second generation of Kawaguchi moved here in 1982. The previous owners build this place. They went bankrupt so they sold this house to Koji Kawaguchi. The deaths of Koji's brothers happened a year previously. They lived closer to Nagasaki. Koji Kawaguchi moved here with his mother in tow when his father, Hiro Kawaguchi, committed suicide. And there is no burial ground around. And the shrine might be beyond reproach."  
Mai puffs out her cheeks. Lin brings out the box from under the table. He strokes the cover and wonders aloud, "We need to open this. A box from nearly two centuries ago and a ghost in eighteenth century clothes? it cannot be just a coincidence. I feel like we need to get this opened."  
"We can ask Sakura," Mai says. The men nod. She leaves to look for Sakura.

Mai locates Sakura as she exits the annexe. Mai shouts, "Sakura-chan!"  
Sakura smiles brightly, "Yes, Mai-chan?"  
"Can you come with me once please?"  
"Sure."  
They are near the stairs when Mai asks, "Were you leaving lunch for your husband?"  
Sakura nods, "I made his favourite prawn tempura today."  
"So as to show you don't hate him at all?"  
"Yes," she laughs. Then her face darkens. She grabs Mai's hand and bows low, "Sentaro-kun told me what happened yesterday. I am so sorry."  
Mai grabs Sakura's hands and says, "Sakura-chan, I should be apologising. I hurt him as well. And the only person you should apologise is to Nohara-san and Hitoshi."  
"They forgave me, but I can't forgive myself. Why can't he see I just want to help him?"  
"Men are idiotic like that." Mai is relieved when Sakura smiles.  
They enter the base. Mai sits down and pats the space beside her for Sakura to sit. She does so and Mai asks, "We found a box in the attic—"  
"Mai had a vision when she touched this box," Naru continues, "We think it might be important." With that he brings out the box.  
Sakura gasps, "I'd forgotten all about it! It belongs to my family. My grandmother gave it to me when I got married. I bought it here with me. She gave me a key too, but I never got to open it. Do you want me to find the key?"  
"Yes."  
She stands up, "Okay, Shibuya-san. But it might take some time. There is a lot of junk in this house. Finding a small key will be hard, especially how the key looks has escaped my mind. But I will try my best." She bows and throwing one smile at Mai's direction, leaves the room.  
"Where is Lin-san?" Mai asks.  
"He is sleeping," Naru replies.  
"Oh."  
What would Gene do in my place? Naru thinks as he watches her leave, a little bit too enthusiastically, he would definitely lock these two in a room and not let them out till they figured out their feelings, or at least confessed how they felt about each other.

 **Day three  
** Lin enters the base and smiles. Someone had laid out a bed for him. He can guess who. He sits down and the smile refuses to leave his face.  
He was fast asleep when Mai had come to wake him up. The sun was setting. He was dreaming maybe (he hardly dreams and when he dreams he cannot remember anything) when he heard his name being called. He didn't wake up. Then someone started shaking his shoulder. For someone who was always ready for combat, he jerked awake and grabbed the closest thing near him: Mai. She was so close to his face. If it wasn't for Houshou, he would have kissed her and then maybe later regretted it. Or not.  
He grunts and rubs his face at that. He is turning thirty this year and he was behaving like an idiot.

Mai turns to her right. She chews the skin around her thumbnail. Her mind replaying this evening. She was ordered by Naru to wake Lin up as the sun was setting soon. She called his name and when that didn't work, she started shaking his shoulder. It worked but then she forgot he had amazing reflexes. And just as expected, he thought he was being attacked, so he grabbed her and she squeaked. They were so close. She could have counted the number of eyelashes on his eyes if she was any closer. Then she remembers feeling giddy and his intense, but sleepy, eyes made her want to melt in his arm. She noticed how his eyes shifted to her lips and lingered there for only a moment. Her heart jumped in excitement but then Bou-san had to ruin everything!  
She presses her head to her pillow and sighs. Would Lin have kissed her? Now she will never know!  
Suddenly she hears someone calling her name. She peeks out behind her pillow. Oh yes someone is definitely shouting "Mai! Mai!"  
Mai jumps out from her bed. She pushes her door open. The base and the girls' quarter were on the same floor. She sees Lin poke his head out of the door too. She runs to him and says, "Do you hear it?"  
"Yes. I think it is coming from downstairs," he says. They both take off running.  
When they reach the landing, they see Hitoshi doubled over his knees trying to catch his breath. Mai gasps and looms over him, asking, "Hitoshi, are you okay?"  
The boy looks up at her, his eyes teary and scared, "Uncle Kenji and father…"  
"Okay, okay. You wait here!"  
She runs towards the annexe, Lin in tow. They run barefoot over grass and stones as the moon plays hide and seek. They enter the annexe and sounds of a quarrel and scuffle comes down from the end of the corridor. They run towards the sound. At the end of the corridor is another section of the house which separates the living quarters for guests. They stop in their tracks when they see an unconscious Ryo lying and a scared Kaorin kneeling next to him. The voices of two men come from a room to their right. Mai and Lin peek in.  
Kenji and Sentaro are shouting at each other. Sentaro is trying to hit Kenji who successfully dodges Sentaro every time. The room is in a mess, with tables overturned and the rice paper on the door torn to shreds. Lin asks Kaorin, "What happened?"  
The girl had started crying, "Kasuga-san and Nohara-san were sharing this room. They are cousins. I stay in the next room. I heard a loud crash. When I came outside to check, I saw the door was destroyed and Kasuga-san was unconscious. I called for Kenji-san. He came and Nohara-san lost it completely. Hitoshi ran off. Is he okay?"  
Mai says, "He is all right." She feels afraid by the feral look on Sentaro's face. He seemed so calm and nice, what made him turn so violent? She whispers, "Lin?"  
Lin nods. He whistles for a shiki. He feels it leave but then he scowls when the shiki ricochets back to him. Mai had seen it too. Her voice is shaky when she asks, "What was that?"  
Lin realises with a jolt that she had seen his shiki but doesn't express his surprise much, so he replies, "Nohara is not possessed but something is blocking my shiki anyway. We need to subdue him."  
"Okay," with that Mai enters the room and before Lin can stop her, she walks between the two men. Kenji stands back, shocked while Sentaro stares at her with bloodshot eyes. Then, with one solid punch at the area below the ear, Mai knocks Sentaro out. She quickly catches him though, before his head can crash against the floor. She grabs his head and softly lays it down on the floor. She feels Lin's presence beside her. She turns around to see the Chinese man smirk at her with ill-concealed amusement in his eyes. He checks Sentaro's pulse. Steady. He says, softly, "That was impressive. Even though you scared me there for a second. Also, reminder to self: never get on Mai Taniyama's bad side."  
Mai blushes. Then she hears him gasp. She looks up to find Lin staring at the inside of Sentaro's elbow. She narrows her eyes at the unknown mark on the arm. She asks, "What is it?"  
"A mark of a curse," Lin mutters. He stands up and kneels down at Ryo's side. He checks the inside of his left arm. His frown deepens when he sees the same mark on the same spot. His confusion increases. He gets to his feet again. He addresses Kenji, "Kawaguchi-san, help me get him inside."  
Kenji gives a short nod. Between Lin and Kenji, they lay down Ryo beside Sentaro. Kenji does not regard them much as he quietly leaves. Kaorin comes inside and asks, "Will they be okay?"  
"They are both okay," Lin reassures. Kaorin nods and leaves.  
Mai asks, "Lin-san? You checked Ryo's arm too, right?"  
Lin says, "Yes. He has the same mark." He points at the mark, burned in black, on his skin. It is a small circle, it looks like the ragged hole made by an iron nail when you hammer it down on weak wood. The mark on Sentaro looked bigger than Ryo's. Lin continues, "I have a theory, but…"  
Mai smiles at him, "You will figure it out." Lin smiles at her trying to encourage him.  
They decide to go back to base. Mai yawns as she walks with Lin. They meet Hitoshi at the stairs. He asks as soon as he sees them, "Is my dad okay?"  
"He is, for now. Hitoshi, why don't you sleep with your cousins tonight?"Mai says.  
Hitoshi nods. He hugs Mai and mumbles, "Thank you Mai." He leaves.  
"I feel terrible. He must have been so scared," Mai says.  
"Hmm," Lin says nothing, deep in thought. They resume walking.  
They are near the base. Lin stops near the door to his lair, Mai moves on to her room. Suddenly he grabs onto Mai's wrist to stop her. She halts and turns around. He says, "Uh, you did that didn't you?" he points to the bed made on the floor.  
Mai says, "I, uh, you slept on the floor yesterday. I thought that if you got tired, you can sleep there. I am sorry if—"  
"N-no. You don't have to apologise. Thank you Taniyama-san." He lets go of her hand.  
She smiles, "Lin-san? Please just call me Mai. I have known you for far too long for this formality to continue."  
"I can do that. Mai." His smile nearly stops our poor girls' heart.  
She blushes, bites her lower lip and stutters, "Y-yeah, okay. Uh, good night."  
"Good night." Lin enters the base, closing the door behind him, he starts to grin. He decides he like it when he causes her to blush.  
He looks down on the bed and shakes his bed. It is just like her to be kind and considerate to everyone. He should not read too much in this. But he has to admit, Mai biting her lips is sort of sexy.  
 _Smack_. Koujo Lin tries to control his brain.

"Mai."  
She starts blushing every time she replayed his voice speaking his name. She sighs and closes her eyes. Her face is way too hot. She places her hand over her face. Sheesh. She is being ridiculous. The gesture was a simple one: gratitude. She rubs her wrist, right where he had held her. She bites her lips. When he had smiled like that at her…oh gosh she forgot to breathe. One of these days, she will do something stupid and there will be no one to blame but Koujo Lin and his rare yet dazzling smiles.  
If I kiss you one day, I will blame you, Mai resolves.

Next morning, Yasu calls. Naru who had been waiting, says a slightly annoyed, "Yes?"  
"No good Naru. There are way too many Tamakos all around that area. But there are two families that have piqued my interest. I think they might be relevant. Anything else?" Yasu asks.  
"Yes. Check out the Kawaguchi lineage. If it is not the house, then it is the family. Check both the paternal and maternal line and their history. The male line beyond Hiro Kawaguchi and the female line beyond Nanako Shina. I will message you an address. The address is of a genealogist. Take his help."  
Naru disconnects the phone. He is at the base with Lin and Masako. The others went to visit the shrine, much to Naru's chagrin. They were here to work not to sightsee. Mai is on his tea run. Suddenly they hear a crash outside their room.  
Lin is the first to get up. He rushes out to see Mai sprawled on the floor, the tray beside her, cups broken and tea spilled all over. Sakura is kneeling beside her, trying to pick up Mai by her elbow. Mai sits up and rubs her chin. Lin spots rough scratches there. He comes closer and kneels down too, picking up the tray. He asks, "What happened?"  
"I am not sure," Mai rubs her neck, "I was bringing tea for us, when I fell someone grab my ankle and trip me." She sees Masako and Naru standing behind Lin.  
"I saw it," Sakura says, "I mean, I was behind her with the dorayaki when I saw that Mai didn't trip on anything. She was walking normally. And suddenly she landed on the floor. I am so sorry Mai-chan."  
"No, no I am sorry for ruining your floor."  
"Mai-chan that is the least of my concern. You are hurt."  
"Yeah," Lin curls his finger under her chin, "You scraped yourself good there."  
Oh god, Mai mentally whimpers as she locks her gaze with his. She mumbles, "I will be okay. Hehe."  
Masako interrupts, "Mai, come on, you need antiseptic." Lin moves his hand away and lets Masako and Sakura take care of Mai.  
As soon as the three of them enter their room, Naru smirks, "Hmm, you looked so concerned back there. Interesting."  
Naru's words skittles over his head as he gets slightly miffed, "That—I was just—she is a valued team member."  
"Whatever you say!" he turns around and goes back to the base.  
Lin shoots daggers at his back.

John returns alone to the base. Naru raises his eyebrow at that. John explains, "Uh, Ayako went shopping. Houshou didn't want to leave her alone."  
"Hmm," Naru grumbles, "This is why people shouldn't marry their co-workers."  
John gives a weak laugh, "They will be back again. Oh Naru, we did check the shrine and the surrounding area. There are no secret burial sites there either. And the shrine is safe."  
Naru nods. Well, at least the spiritualists got to check the shrine out. But he was still angry about Houshou and Ayako honeymooning around.

The couple returns after nearly two hours. They are disciplined enough by their boss. The rest of the day went relatively quiet, except for Ryo Kasuga. He complained of a headache, so he didn't come to visit the SPR (he was curious about the mark).  
After dinner, Lin told his theory to everyone, which be he had been thinking about, "I think the two men—Ryo Kasuga and Sentaro Nohara are used as live hirogatas. I am betting that the curse on them is being fulfilled by their blood. The blood is supplying energy to the curse, to be precise. This is a curse, but I also think a spirit is responsible. This spirit is using magic, I am sure."  
"What about the other two spirits?" Masako asked, "I felt the presence of three spirits here. One angry, and the other two benign. So you might be right."  
"I am guessing the angry spirit tripped me," Mai sighs.  
"Yes. But why?" Lin asks.  
"What do you mean?" Naru asks.  
"There is a monk, a Miko, a priest, and an omniyoji in this house. Yet the spirit attacked someone who knows nothing about exorcism. Why?" Lin explains.  
Because I am the trouble magnet, Mai thinks sadly. But Lin is right, why attack me?


	7. Chapter 7

**Day Four  
** The only supernatural thing that happens after midnight is mild poltergeist-like activity in the kitchen. Houshou, who has been keeping Lin company runs down to the kitchen. Houshou cleanses the place. But Lin is not convinced.  
When they are returning to the base, Lin says, "My shiki says that was some other spirit."  
"What?"  
"Yes. My shikis have been alert ever since the man came up. This wasn't the grandmother, the man or the other spirit."  
"It is a woman, the other angry spirit you know."  
"Huh?"  
"The one that attacked me in Masao's room? It was a woman's voice. Now I sincerely believe that granny would not do that."  
Lin does not doubt Houshou's point, "Yeah that is fine. But who was that spirit then?"  
Houshou stops in his track, "You don't think that one of the main three spirits are calling them here, are you? Like that woman's spirit in the Doll House case?"  
Lin turns around, "That could be it. But something tells me that this isn't some distraught mother's spirit."  
Suddenly the light flares out. The corridor gets sunk in complete darkness. The temperature drops. Houshou takes his pose as Lin raises his fingers to his lips. Soon enough, two spirits emerge from the floor, decked in samurai costume.  
 _What?_ Houshou is shocked.  
But before either men could do anything, the old man in a kimono, their eighteenth century ghost, shows up. He grabs one of the samurais by the neck and they struggle for a while. The second samurai goes up to help when Houshou starts chanting.  
The second samurai disperses. The other one dissolves too, taking the old man with him. Lin and Houshou stand there, flabbergasted. Lin says, "Was it me or was the old man fighting the samurai ghost?"  
"It wasn't you," Houshou pants.  
"Why?"  
Then the old man appears before them. He looks at them with a pained expression. He mouths one word, "Help" and then he dissolves into thin air.  
They just stand there, fixated and perplexed. That was unexpected.

In the morning, Lin and Houshou recount their late night adventures. John, Masako, Naru, Ayako and Mai listen to them silently.  
Masako is the first to comment, "Bou-san might be right. This might be like the doll case. But why?"  
"I asked Sakura this morning about anything samurai related in this area. She said that there is a samurai gravesite about ten kilometres away from here," Lin informs, "Thus, Takigawa's theory is sound."  
"Because," Mai says a little too loudly. She shuts up when every head turns towards her. Then Lin nods his head with a hint of smile on his lips, quietly encouraging her. She gulps and continues, "Because the angry spirit is trying to scare us away? It attacked Bou-san. It tripped me. Maybe it got mad that it wasn't working, so it summoned other spirits here?"  
Naru raises his eyebrow. Crazy, he was thinking the same thing. He smirks, "Well, look who has gotten smarter." Mai puffs her cheeks and glares at Naru. Jerk Naru is back. "I was thinking the same thing. The woman's spirit doesn't want us here. She is distracted from her real objective."  
The door slides open to reveal Tsugumi dressed in a yukata. She says, "The family is going to the shrine. Sakura has invited Mai to come along," she hesitates, "Also Sentaro-san can't come. After that night, he had refused to leave his room. And uh, Hitoshi seems taken by you. I would like it too."  
Mai gets to her feet. She smiles at Tsugumi, "That is okay. Except…is a yukata required? Because I don't have one."  
Tsugumi giggles, "That is all right. I will lend you mine."  
As Mai is about to leave, Naru reminds her, "Don't be long. And Mai? They are just clients, don't get too affectionate."  
Mai says nothing as she glares at him. She happens to really like Sakura and Tsugumi. Also Hitoshi. _Naru can go stick it up his ass_ , she grumbles.

Mai carefully balances herself on the geta. She is so not used to walk in a yukata. The last time she worn one was way back in her senior year in school. Michiru had blackmailed her into wearing one. But that yukata will never compare to this one. That one was a plain lavender yukata with blue flowers. But this one is elegant, resplendent and in short, beautiful. It is a deep cherry red with white cherry blossom embroidered in it, and the leaves are stitched in gold. The obi is a fluffy pink colour. Tsugumi had tamed her hair into a braided bun. When she saw herself in the mirror, she had felt—for the lack of a better word—beautiful. She had half a mind to show up at base wearing this just to show him. But then changed her mind.  
The prayer service did not take long. Everybody was there, even Kenji Kawaguchi and Ryo Kasuga who openly drooled at her. Mai wanted to disappear. Kenji even wishes her a good morning. That shocked Mai too much. It made her sad when Sakura tried to talk to him but he ignored her completely. Hitoshi clung to her throughout the service. He offered prayers for his mother, her namesake.  
When it was Mai's turn to offer a prayer to the departed, she silently prayed for Minami Kawaguchi and her own dead parents. She felt like it.  
Now she is making her way back to the house. The family before her. The kids, who had fallen behind whizz past her. She wonders what their excitement is all about when she follows them. She gasps. The wind is making the loose petals of the blossoms float everywhere.  
Hitoshi, Tomo, Nori and Masao all squeal and run around the tree. Seeing the happy and carefree looks on their faces, some of the heaviness lifts off her heart. Hitoshi runs up to her and drags her along. His little grin makes her happy. She lifts up her face. The bright spring sun peeks through the branches and flowers. She basks in the warmth as petals shower down on her.  
Noriyuki says cheerfully, "Oh, it will be Hanami soon!"  
"Yes!" Mai says and then she blushes when she notices Lin leaning by the entrance, hands in his pocket. He seems to be staring…only at her.

Lin had come down to the kitchen for a drink of water when Sakura and others entered the house. They were walking along the corridor when he hears a male voice say, "Is Mai single? She is so pretty!"  
He scowls, _over his dead body._ Then Sakura says, "Ryo-kun! Don't even. She is not your type. She is too nice for you."  
He smirks. That was Ryo Kasuga then. No way would Mai go for a guy like him. He reckons Mai had not come in. After he makes sure the family had left the corridor, he walks out. When he gets to the entrance, his heart skips a beat for sure.  
He feels he is in one of those clichéd romantic movies where the guy halts in his tracks because he just saw the most beautiful woman in the world. He used to think that it was ridiculous. But he has changed his mind in the few minutes he stands there, staring at Mai.  
The sun, the petals raining down on her, the deep colour of the yukata, or maybe the light flush on her cheeks—he doesn't know. He is bewitched and he cannot look away. He has never seen Mai like this. Never.  
Then Noriyuki says cheerfully, "Oh, it will be Hanami soon!"  
"Yes!" Mai says and then she blushes when she notices him standing there for the first time. Her cheeks darken as she starts blushing profusely.  
Then he starts walking towards her. He hardly notices the children who run off somewhere. He notices a petal that has landed on her head. He gets closer and plucks it away.  
Mai looks straight at his shirt buttons. He curls his finger under her chin and pushes her head up, so now she had to stare at his madly intense eyes. She feels a little faint. He leans in closer. He brings his lips closer to her ear and whispers, oh-so huskily, "You look beautiful."  
It took a lot of effort on her behalf to keep her knees from not wobbling too much. She has a feeling like something is going to happen soon. His breathe tickles her ear, sending shivers down her spine. Shivers of the pleasant kind, not the there-might-be-a-ghost-here kind. She closes her eyes as she feels his lips brush against her jaw.  
He doesn't know what he is doing. He knows what he wants now. He wants to kiss her. Badly. He lightly kisses the corner of her lips. He leans back to gauge her reaction. She opens her eyes. She gives a tiny smile as her fingers come resting on the nape of his neck. She reaches upward, he meets her halfway as their lips meet.  
It is gentle. It is also passionate as Mai and Lin stop resisting the pull and give in. Lin rests one hand on her neck and the other around her waist, pressing her closer to his chest. Mai keeps one hand one hand on his neck while she grabs his shirt, clutching on to it for dear life as she melts against his strong, hard body. _God, he is divine_ , she thinks.  
His blood is rushing, and he thinks there are fireworks behind his eyelids, or something. Her scent fills his senses and her fingers stroking his nape makes him shiver a little. He deepens the kiss as she moans a little. God, she will drive him mad. Somewhere in his mind, he finds himself questioning if what he is doing is right.  
He suddenly pulls back. He is overwhelmed by his emotions right now. He sees the flash of disappointment in her eyes and it hits him hard.  
Mai is in heaven when his wicked tongue battles her own. Then he pulls back and with the confused look on his face she comes crashing down from cloud nine to planet Earth. He is regretting this already. Then why would he kiss her like that? Tears prickle behind her eye as she tries to stay expressionless.  
He sees her downcast eyes. She puts her finger over her lips. What has he done? He should not have simply given in. He unwraps his hands around her and stands a foot away from her. He opens his mouth to say something, anything.  
He is, however, interrupted by a shrill scream coming from the annexe building.


	8. Chapter 8

Mai and Lin turn their heads towards the annexe. They take off running. They are at the garden when Naru, Masako, John, Houshou and Ayako join them. The seven of them speed down the corridors and to the living quarters. Tsugumi and Kenji are looking in Sentaro's room. Tsugumi with hand over her mouth and fear in her eyes. Kenji motionless, his eyes widened and mouth open.  
Lin, Mai, John and Houshou get to them first. They are shocked at the scene before their eyes. Sentaro is standing straight with a knife to his throat. He is holding the knife but his hand is being held by a spirit of a woman.  
The spirit is of a young girl, no more than twenty. Anger and evil has screwed and distorted her, what Mai thinks, her once beautiful face. Her body is translucent, but her hair which is set loose and flying all around her is dark and ominous. Purple and blue sparks of energy float in it.  
John and Houshou step forward to exorcise. But their efforts are cut short when the table comes flying at them. John ducks in time but a corner of the table hits Houshou's head and he gets knocked out. Ayako cries in alarm and kneels down beside him. Now John and Lin stay standing.  
Mai feels as if someone has poured ice cold water on her when she sees two more spirits materialising from nowhere. Two samurais. Lin curses under his breath as he moves to cover Mai.  
Then absolute chaos ensues when the woman moves Sentaro's hand like a violin string and a fountain of blood gushes out his slashed throat. Masako screams. Then the samurais attack Lin together, their swords slashing, cutting through his shirt. He gasps in pain as he staggers still trying to protect Mai. Mai shouts as blood seeps through his shirt. She quickly catches him by his elbow. Naru helps her.  
The samurais turn their attention to John who has already started, "Father who art in heaven…" Lin's shikis get to work. Ayako joins him too with her chants. Bitch just hurt her husband, no way no earth she will stand down.  
Between them they manage to expel the samurais. The woman, watching her spirits disappearing so fast, starts screeching. It is an ear-splitting screech. All of them press their hands to their ears trying to block her out. Then she moves and flies straight through Masako.  
Masako presses her hands to her ears, but no avail. Then she feels a cold knife-like sensation pass through her. The pain overwhelms her. Her own pain and the spirit's pain. It feels as if her very blood froze on impact. She coughs and the last thing she remembers is darkness. She faints.

Lin does not want her here. But Naru is talking to the family members downstairs; Ayako is dealing with Houshou; and John is keeping watch over Masako. So it left Mai to tend to his wounds.  
They are seated on the floor. He tentatively takes his shirt off, wincing as the fabric peels off his cuts. The swords had slashed his right side: his bicep, near his shoulder blade, his elbow, and on his cheek.  
First she notices how well built he is. He did not have much chest hair. And he is smooth, and hard. She remembers feeling it against her body. She gulps and scolds herself because now is definitely not the time t go down _that_ road. Then she exhales in relief when she realises that his cuts were not at all deep or serious. She sends her thanks to all the gods. She says softly, "Your wounds are superficial."  
He is about to nod when he winces and a hiss escapes from his lips. She had just applied the antiseptic liquid. Is it his imagination or was it burning more? He turns his head to look at her. She still hasn't changed out of the yukata. The dress is wrinkled, her hair is starting to escape from her braided bun. He looks at her for a few heartbeats. Even in this disheveled state, her beauty had not diminished. He never really noticed her beauty before, has he? She mutters, "Thank you…for saving me then." He makes a noncommittal noise in his throat.  
She feels his gaze on her as she deftly wipes away all the blood. She prepares the gauze and applies it winding it around his arm, and under it to cover his shoulder. She moves on to the elbow. Then she steels herself as she turns towards the wound on his face.  
He is a bit hurt when she refuses to make eye contact as she looks at his nose instead to rub the antiseptic on his cheekbone. When she peels off a Band-Aid to apply, he finally speaks, "Mai?"  
"Hmm?" she says, already dreading where this is going.  
"I am sorry. For that, I shouldn't have done that."  
She presses the Band-Aid and finally makes eye contact. Her brown eyes are stormy. She asks, "Why?"  
"Mai…"  
She grabs him by his face and says, in a steady voice even though she is breaking apart inside, "I can tell you why. I wish you can see. Yes, I know, I am younger than you. But you need to open your eyes. I am no longer sixteen. I am no longer a girl. I am a woman now and I want you," her voice softens, "I buy oolong tea for you because you like it. I learnt how to make coffee for you. You don't know how glad it makes me when among everyone else you never once insulted my intelligence. I care what you think about me but…I am so tired of you not seeing me Lin."  
She gets to her feet and promptly escapes, leaving a very surprised Lin in her wake.  
She runs all the way to the room she shared with Ayako and Masako. Maybe she shared too much. She wants to cry. She puts a stop to that when she sees John sitting beside an unconscious Masako. She asks, "How is she?"  
John startles a little. He turns around, "Oh hello Mai. She is okay. She actually woke up a few minutes ago, asked for water and then fell asleep right away. I don't think she is possessed. How is Lin?"  
"He is okay," she clutches around for a viable excuse so John can leave, "Uh, John? Lin-san needs your help. He can't find a wearable shirt with one hand. I didn't feel right rummaging a man's luggage."  
"Oh that is understandable. I will go. Can you stay here?"  
She nods. John leaves. She sits down on her knees beside Masako. She clutches the fabric and bites down on her lips, trying very hard not to crumble. But, it doesn't work, when she remembers the regretful look in his eyes.  
He regrets kissing her. She can no longer take the hurt and hot tears roll down her cheeks. This is what heartbreak feels like then.  
"Mai?"  
Mai tries to wipe her tears when she sees Masako looking at her with her dark blue eyes. She says, "Oh hey Masako."  
"Are you crying because of Lin?" Mai's mouth drops open. "I saw you two kissing. I remember feeling glad that you two might have actually expressed your feelings for each other. But now that you are crying…I am thinking it did not go well."  
"So you knew?"  
"Me and Yasu. It wasn't too hard to guess."  
Mai blushes, "Oh god that is embarrassing."  
"Mai," Masako grabs her hand, Mai thinks her grip is too weak, "Tell him you love him." Her eyes flutter and close.  
As Masako goes back to sleep, Mai gasps. She gets to her feet and stands beside the window. She can see the koi pond from there. She asks herself—love?  
Was this heart-wrenching, soul-crushing emotion love? Did she love him? She takes stock how he made her feel. How her heart would jumpstart, how his miniscule smiles brings her immense joy, how every touch set her skin tingling, how safe he made her feel, how she knows she can tell him anything and he wouldn't judge, how she wishes she could spend all her time with him. Oh gosh, she realises with a jolt, she does.  
She grips the pane hard, her knuckles go white. She is in love with Koujo Lin. And goodness it hurt.

The police came by and ruled it as suicide as the only fingerprints on the knife handle were Sentaro Nohara's. Kenji and Sakura made up when he saw his own cousin getting killed by a ghost. Hitoshi had not spoken much after he saw his father's body being carried away by the police. Masako had woken and she was confirmed not-possessed by everybody. Houshou had a bandage around his temple and he might have a concussion.  
It was nearing night and yet, Lin did not see Mai anywhere. He did have a shiki following her and he knew she was okay. Yet she avoided him. It hurt him a bit. But he will not deny that her bold confession shook him up. She was honest with him. And he was lost at sea. If he took one step forward, his own mind would pull him two steps back. He did see her as a woman. But he was a failure when it came to express his feelings.

A day prior to Masako ending up unconscious on her bed, her boyfriend, Osamu Yasuhara, gets down from the train at Shin-Osaka. The genealogist lives in Himeji, in Hyougou Prefecture of the Kansai region. His name is Daichi Watanabe. When Yasu called him up, he got his secretary instead, who very hesitantly and sadly informed that the professor hates modern technology and he is basically a recluse—maybe he can physically visit him. So here is Yasu now, waiting for the train that would take him from Shin-Osaka to Himeji.  
After a thirty-six minute journey, he successfully locates the professor's house. It is a small house covered by lush greenery. He presses the bell. The door opens revealing a diminutive woman in her early thirties with bright red dyed hair. He smiles, "Hello, I am Osamu Yasuhara. I called—"  
"Oh! I am Rin Kimura. I am the one you talked to," she says, "Come in, the professor's this way!"  
As soon as Yasu enters, he hears a rough, rude baritone call out from somewhere, "Rin! Where are my cookies and chocolate milk? How am I supposed to take my medicines otherwise? You know my bowels do't work without them. I haven't taken a shit in two days!"  
What? Yasu has a feeling it is going to be awful dealing with Professor Watanabe.


	9. Chapter 9

**Day five  
** _Where is she? It is a big house. The sun is shining bright. There are too many people here in the courtyard. Some are running wild while others are constructing some kind of makeshift stage beside a pond. It is hot. The white lilies are in bloom everywhere. She hears someone shout, "Nanami? Nanami! Come on! You need to get ready!" She realises they are talking to her. Wait, she is not Nanami, she is Mai Taniyama. The woman calling her Nanami must be confused. Before she can clear the misconception, the older woman grabs her by her elbow and drags her inside this huge room where two more women are awaiting her. The one eye-catching feature in the room is a huge mirror covered in red cloth.  
_ _She is quickly stripped off her plain yukata. She tries to protest but no word comes out of her mouth. The only barrier against her nudity is this soft silk innerwear she is wearing. They start draping an uchikake around her. It is white and made of silk. It is embroidered in silk and metallic threads with stencil-style details. She notices that the design on her uchikake is stylised as a gathering of cranes and tortoises in a bright landscape dominated by pine, bamboo, and blossoming plum. She touches the fabric and is awed by the quality of it. It must be very expensive.  
_ _Then they turn their attention towards her hair. She widens her eyes when she realises her hair is neither brown nor is it till the middle of her back—it is a rich black colour and it cascades down her hips. They comb it out, not really caring that each knot they detangled hurt her scalp. Everyone ignores her watery eyes. They roll strands of her hair and wind it around, pinning in places. She sees from the corner of her eyes that they are putting some sort of hair accessories too. She thinks they are carved yellow quartz flowers.  
_ _When the women are done, one of them pulls the red cloth off the mirror. Mai gasps. She looks in the mirror to see herself, yet not quite herself. This self has a larger chest, longer hair and grey eyes. The woman who had dragged her in here, starts weeping. She says, "Look at you. You look so beautiful as a bride. Kenji will not be able to take his eyes off you. I am so proud of you, my girl." Mai realises this is Nanami's mother  
_ _What? Wedding? Who is Kenji? Why do they think she is Nanami?  
_ _Suddenly she hears a bell ringing. The women giggle and usher her out of the room. They are back in the courtyard. This time all the people have quieted down. They all turn and gasp in unison when they see the bride. Mai blushes. She is walked to the podium where a handsome man of twenty or so smiles at her. Is this her groom?  
_ _She is told to sit down as this old man pours sake in a bowl for both of them. Her groom offers her a bowl. She takes a sip from it. Then the groom brings out a package wrapped in white silk. She takes it. Her mother gestures her to get up and bring the package with her. She obeys.  
_ _Again, the four of them retreat to their room. The white uchikake is taken off. The silk package is unwrapped to show another garment, a black and red kosode with symbols on them she did not recognise. They put it on her.  
_ _She is again walked out of the room. She is made to sit beside her groom again. But then…something happens.  
_ _A shrill scream echoes around the courtyard. It makes her blood run cold. The courtyard has a high wall wrapping around its west and south end. The wall on the south ends bursts open. Debris fly everywhere as women, men and children run to take shelter. Mai and her groom stand shell-shocked on the stage.  
_ _In midst the dust, a figure of a woman appears. Her black hair is messy and it covers her face. She steps over the debris and starts walking towards the bride and groom. Mai's blood runs cold. She doesn't like this one bit.  
_ _The woman raises her head and she hears Kenji gasping, "Nagisa!"  
_ _Nagisa? Why does she look familiar? Mai gasps too when she locks gaze with Nagisa. Her eyes are cold, yet burning with hatred. Hatred towards her and Kenji. She raises a finger and points it towards Mai. She chants something under her breath. Mai screams, the hem of her kosode has caught fire. Kenji quickly drops to his knees and tries putting the fire off with his bare hands. But it does not help. The fire spreads, the flame catching her silk kosode fast.  
_ _Kenji pulls back, his eyes widening in panic. The fire reaches through the outer garment and to her legs. She can feel the heat touching her skin. The flame shoots up, she feels the heat on her face. Any moment and she will be burnt to a crisp. Then she hears Kenji scream, "Nagisa stop this! Please!"  
_ _"No! You are mine! You are supposed to be marrying me!" Nagisa screams.  
_ _"I told you again and again, I am in love with Nanami!"  
_ _"I don't care! She must d—"  
_ Mai's dream is cut short when she wakes up screaming as she feels the skin near her ankle burning.  
Ayako and Masako are woken up when they hear Mai screaming. Ayako quickly rushes over to her. She had her eyes closely shut. There are tears streaming down her face as she keeps on screaming. Masako shakes her shoulders, "Mai! Mai! Wake up!"  
They hear the doors sliding. They looks up to see Lin standing there. He asks, "What is—"  
"She is dreaming," Ayako explains. She leans over Mai and shouts loud enough to wake the entire household up, "MAI! GET UP!"  
This seems to work as the screaming stops. She does not wake up. Lin kneels down beside her. He notices her lips moving. He leans down and turns his head sideways to catch what she is trying to say. He gasps in alarm when he understands her mumbled words. He straightens up and tells Ayako, "She is saying 'Burn' and 'Legs'!"  
Ayako throws off the blanket off Mai and cries, "Lin her legs!"  
Masako and Lin gape in surprise as they see that both of her ankles and feet had large angry burn marks. Ayako says, "They are first degree burns. A cold compress and some aloe vera gel will take care of it." She covers her forehead with relief.  
Lin relaxes too. Then Mai opens her eyes. The first person she sees is Lin. She sits up in shock, blinking at him. He opens his mouth to say something when she cries, "Ouch! My feet!"  
Mai looks at her feet and gasps. What? How? She cries, "The dream!"  
"You had a dream?" Lin asks.  
She nods, "I don't understand it, but…" then it hits her, "Wait I saw the angry spirit in my dream! Her name is Nagisa! I think she is a witch."  
"I will go wake the others up," Lin says as he gets to his feet, "Tell us your dream, in detail. Matsuzaka, take care of her."  
He leaves the room. As he makes his way to the others' room, he runs a hand through his hair. He remembers how scared he felt when he heard her screaming bloody murder back then. He had conjured up the worst possible scenarios in his head. He was glad she was mostly unharmed. Matsuzaka said she will be fine, and he trusts her.  
He doesn't need to go all the way downstairs to call up the others. Naru, Monk and John were coming up the stairs. He also spots a very concerned Sakura amongst them. She says, "I was in the kitchen getting a drink, when I heard the screams. What happened?"  
Lin replies, "Mai had a dream. Uh, do you have any cold compresses? And aloe vera gel?"  
"A dream?" Naru says. He quietly goes upstairs.  
Sakura says, "Uh, I might have a cold compress. But I don't have any aloe vera, I will ask Tsugumi." She goes back to the kitchen, wondering why Lin-san needs them.  
Mai wipes her tears away as Naru enter with Lin, Bou-san and John in tow. Ayako asks, "Where is the compress?"  
"Sakura is bringing it," Lin replies.  
Naru gets straight to the point, "Mai what did you see?"  
Mai takes a deep breath and recounts her entire dream. After she is finished, Naru comments, "You are saying you were Nanami?"  
"Yep."  
"Has this ever happened before? You taking the first person perspective in a dream?"  
Mai closes her eyes and tries to remember. It did happen once, a year ago. She says, "A year ago, or so, I saw an accident in front of my eyes. A truck and a minivan collided. The minivan's driver had died on spot. Two nights later…I dreamt that I was the minivan's driver and I woke up screaming. Michiru said I was crying as well. It was a bit difficult to explain her all the bruises I had all over my body. Thankfully they faded. But I remember feeling the awful pain the poor man must have felt."  
Bou-san whistles, "Mai, you never told us this."  
"I did not want to worry you all," she says in a very quiet voice.  
Naru says, "Seems to me that you are using psychometry in your dreams."  
Mai turns to look at Naru with consternation in her eyes. Lin says, "That is dangerous." She is surprised by the amount of anger he was trying to conceal in his voice.  
She stutters, "I-I can't control it."  
"You will need to learn how to do so."  
"Yeah," Naru says, with a smirk, "Lin will teach you. He helped me with my powers a long time ago."  
Masako tries to hide the smile on her face when Mai starts to blush and Lin looks at the ceiling like it is the most interesting thing ever. Then he says, "I don't have any problems with that.''  
Mai hangs her head and takes two deep breaths. She says, "Okay."  
Bou-san and John scratch their heads. They know something happened that escaped them completely. Ayako, on the other hand, has a hunch.  
Just then Sakura enters with a cold compress and a tube of aloe vera gel. She asks, "Uh, what happened?"  
"Mai got hurt," John says.  
Sakura widens her eyes. She silently passes the things to Ayako, who gets to work. Mai looks at the panic in her face, and sweetly smiles at her, "Sakura-chan, please. I am fine."  
Lin glances at her. He sees the dried tear tracks on her cheek, he also sees the burns on her feet. Her powers have been increasing. Yet, she claims to be fine. He shakes his head. Then he excuses himself.  
He walks to the base. He enters and locks the door behind him. His mind is in a mess.  
Later, when the men and Sakura had left the room, Ayako as she bandages Mai's feet, asks, "What is going on between you and Lin?"  
Masako smirks as Mai blushes, "What? Nothing!"  
"Don't lie. You resemble a tomato when you try to lie."  
"Ayako—"  
The older woman puts up a hand to shut Mai up. She says, "I have never seen Lin so scared and concerned. You had your eyes closed but I saw his face. It was genuine emotion on his face."  
Mai looks at her, taking in the new information. Was he really afraid for her? Ayako continues, "Mai if you have feelings for him, you have my blessings. I know he is older than you but somehow I have a feeling you two will fit rather nicely."  
"Yes," Masako agrees, "Lin-san needs someone fun, and you need someone serious."  
Mai looks at both women. Then she starts to cry, "It is of no use! He still thinks I am juvenile! I am an adult for gods' sake!"  
Ayako hugs Mai's shoulders, "There, there. Don't give up so easy. Men are dense…amazingly dense. Look how long it took Houshou to say he loved me. I was relentless, so you should be."  
Masako comes closer and gives her own pearl of wisdom, "Yasu was dense too. He had decided to flirt with me instead of coming clean and asking me out. I figured he liked me, so I asked him out instead. My gamble paid."  
"Yup Mai, listen to us. We both know how it is. Houshou is stubborn and Yasu is an idiot, no offense Masako," she did not take any, "And Lin is a robot. He has feelings but he will pretend that he hasn't any. It is up to you Mai."  
Mai wipes her tears as she stares at her bandaged limbs. They are right. She raises her head and says, "Okay. After we get back to Tokyo, I will show him what I am made of." She fists her hands and nods her head once.  
Ayako pats her head, "Now don't punch him or anything."  
Masako asks, "What if he doesn't get her point?"  
"Okay, maybe a harmless punch is allowed."  
Masako, Mai and Ayako giggle as they try imagining the scene.


	10. Chapter 10

Morning arrives with a hint of rain in it. Mai wakes up and looks out of the window groggily. She can see the wards put in place all over the house by Ayako and Monk shimmering in the cloudy sunlight. Her feet do not hurt as such, but Ayako has warned her not to move around much. But staying still is her anathema. She is already fidgety.  
Her passivity is saved when the door is thrown open. She turns her head to look at a panting Sakura. Mai instantly feels worried, "Sakura-chan?"  
The noise wakes Ayako and Masako up as well. Sakura says, "I can't find Kenji…I woke up and he wasn't there. The others are looking for him…but…"  
Masako and Ayako take off immediately. Ayako shouts, "Mai don't get out of the bed!"  
Mai nods, her heart thumping. She is dismayed when they leave her all alone in the room. Then she doesn't feel quite alone. She feels a warm presence enter the room. Lin's shiki. A small smile quirks her lips upwards.  
She gets out of her bed. She slowly puts pressure on her feet, one foot at a time. It doesn't hurt much right now. She feels determined enough to walk to the base. It isn't a huge distance. She can manage. She feels the shiki following her  
She opens the door to the base. Lin isn't here. Of course he isn't here, she reminds herself. She sits down in front of the monitors. She hopes fervently that they find Kenji, safe and sound. She sees John, Lin and Naru by the southwest corner. Ayako and Houshou were near the kitchen debating going outside. Masako is helping Sakura. By the window she hears Tsugumi shouting for Kenji.

Lin is outside the house. He was helping John and Naru when he had send a shiki to Mai and another to find Kenji. Naru and John were entering the annexe when his shiki returned to inform him that Kenji was behind the shrine.  
Now the three of them run towards the lake. They reach the shrine. His shiki shows the way. They jog behind the shrine to see an unused well.  
"He is down there isn't he?" John pants.  
"Is the spirit here?" Naru asks.  
"No," Lin confirms.  
They reach toward the edge. They peer in to see Kenji lying on his side, blood oozing from his temple. "Is he?" John asks.  
Lin's shiki floats down and conveys to his master. Lin answers, "He is alive."  
"I will get help!" John takes off in a run.

It was almost lunchtime when Mai gets to hear the entire story. She was, of course, admonished by Ayako first and foremost for getting out of bed.  
Sakura and Kenji were woken up by a sudden sound. When they woke up they realised their room was unusually cold. Then they saw the spirit. Before they could do anything, a blow hit Sakura on her chest and she lost conscious. Then when she came around a few minutes later, Kenji was nowhere to be found. Later, John, Naru and Lin found Kenji behind the shrine, in the unused well. He was injured but it was nothing serious. He was immediately rushed to the hospital. Kenji regained consciousness while in the ambulance. John was there too, he said that Kenji didn't remember walking to the shrine at all. The doctors said that he will be discharged within a couple of days.

Lin has gone to the kitchen to get some water. Naru is at the hospital with John and Houshou, keeping guard, in case Kenji is possessed again. Masako and Ayako are keeping watch over in their room, in case Mai tries moving again. That girl is reckless.  
When he returns, he halts when he sees the door of the base moved by an inch. He had left it closed all the way. He frowns. He stalks like a cat, making sure to make no sound as he peeks inside. He is surprised to see Kaorin, with her back turned to him, leaning over something in her lap. He pushes the door back loud enough to make her jump.  
Kaorin turns around to see a furious Lin standing at the doorway. He asks, his voice firm and frightening, "What are you doing with that?" When she turned, he glimpsed the box found in the attic on her lap.  
She gets flustered. She places the box beside her and stands up. She wrings her hand and tries to smile. Lin sees drops of perspiration beading on her forehead. She gives a weak laugh and says, "I am sorry. I am very interested in the Edo period. I wanted to see it."  
"Since this SPR's base, I'd like you to not sneak in like that."  
She fumbles with her skirt, as she bows her head and leaves. Lin picks up the box and his doubts are cleared when he sees scratch marks around the lock.

Tsugumi says to her sister, "Have you checked on Ryo today?" They are walking around the garden. Rain still threatens to pour anytime now.  
Sakura, who had returned from the hospital an hour ago, shakes her head. As if on cue, Ryo appears. He spots his sister-in-law. He walks over to them and asks, "How is Kenji-kun?"  
"Doctors say he will be okay. Thank God the well wasn't deep enough," Sakura replies. Then she spots Naru walking by the corridor. She calls him, "Shibuya-san!"  
Naru stops in his tracks and makes his way over to them. Sakura asks, "Is everything okay?"  
"Yes," Naru says, "I have left two of my associates with Kenji-san."  
Sakura nods. Suddenly Ryo gives a loud yelp. Sakura turns her head to see him pointing at the wall behind them. She puts a hand over mouth and starts shaking. Tsugumi too has her eyes peeled on the wall.  
Naru frowns at what they are seeing. He looks at the wall and sees…nothing. He asks, "Sakura-san? What is it?"  
Sakura turns her head around, "What do you mean? You-you…"  
"I what? What are you all staring at?"  
Ryo asks, his voice shaking, "You don't see?"  
"See what?"  
"The blood. The writing…"  
Naru's frown deepens. He asks Tsugumi, "You see it too?" She nods. "What does it say?"  
"He got lucky. I will get another," she says, her voice trembling.  
Naru turns around and beckons them to follow him. He gets to the base. Lin looks at him questioningly. Naru says, "Do we have a camera at the north wall, overlooking the garden?"  
Lin nods, "Yes. I did see you all on the camera. What happened?"  
"Do we have a video feed opposite that wall?"  
"Yes. It is not very clear though. I installed a camera outside Kaorin's room. You can see the north wall from there." He pulls up the said image. Ryo, Tsugumi, Sakura and Naru peer over his shoulder at the image. He hears Ryo, Tsugumi and Sakura gasping. The feed showed no writing either.  
"How can…" Ryo whispers, "We three saw it! We couldn't have been imagining things together!"  
"I have an idea," Naru says, his hand under his chin, "Maybe the writing can only be seen by those belonging to this family. I am not, so I couldn't. The cameras don't pick up anything because the writing is meant for only the eyes of people belonging to this family."  
"How did Sakura-chan see it then?"  
"She is married. She is a Kawaguchi."  
"But," Tsugumi asks, her brows furrowing, "I am not a Kawaguchi, how can I?"  
Naru has no answer. Suddenly Ryo complains, "Oh god my head! Excuse me."  
Naru watches Ryo leave. He turns to Tsugumi, "Don't leave him alone." She nods and follows Ryo.  
Sakura leaves as well. When they are finally alone, Naru asks, "Lin, why did you install a camera outside Kaorin's room?"  
Lin picks up the antique box and shows it to Naru. He says, "Look around the keyhole."  
Naru notices scratches. New ones. He frowns, "Yes?"  
"Kaorin was here, trying to get that box open. I am sure she used a hairpin. There is something valuable in the box, something she wants."  
Naru frowns. He says, "Where did she say she came from?"  
"Hakata."  
Naru says nothing more as he sits down, deep in thought.

Ayako announces, "I think I might be pregnant."  
Mai who was stuffing herself with tapioca chip, chokes on it. Masako, who was standing by the window, looks at her in surprise. Mai stutters, bits of food flying everywhere, "What?"  
"Yup. That day when I visited the town with Houshou, I was passing a pharmacy shop. It suddenly dawned on me that I had missed last months' periods. Also yesterday, before breakfast, I puked. I am thinking I might be pregnant with that idiot's kid."  
Mai smiles, "Oh my God it will be awesome if you are!"  
Ayako looks taken aback by Mai's enthusiasm. She asks, "Are you sure? I don't feel sure about becoming a parent."  
Masako grins, "But Ayako, you and Houshou have enough practice."  
Mai laughs when she gets Masako's joke. Ayako does too after a few seconds. She grins, "Masako, Yasu is rubbing off of you in more ways than one."  
The medium starts blushing profusely. Her heart lurches a little as she misses him. He had called yesterday, telling her all about the eccentric but brilliant professor and how beautiful Himeji was, promising her that he will take her there someday. She wishes she could see him.  
Then she hears a very familiar voice outside their room, "Hey Lin, and Naru, miss me?"


	11. Chapter 11

Yasu is surprised how easy it was to find the Kawaguchi onsen. He is met by a five year old kid who shows him the way to the base. He hopes Masako is here, he has missed her so much. Then he opens the door to see Naru and Lin.  
He shouts, "Hey Lin, and Naru, miss me?"  
The two of them regard him with nonchalance and maybe annoyance. Then he hears footsteps behind him. He has a huge smile plastered on his face when he see his girlfriend running up to him. He meets her halfway.  
Masako knows it is him. She runs out of the room and her heart explodes in happiness when she sees it is, indeed, Yasu. She runs up to him. He comes to her halfway. She throws her arms around him, as he grabs her by her waist and hoists her up from the floor. She giggles, grateful that he is so much taller than her.  
They pull back and stare at each other, taking it in. Masako whispers, "You know, I was just wishing I could see you."  
"I heard you," he whispers back. He presses his lips against her. She kisses him back, their longing conveyed in more than words.  
Naru sighs at the lovey dovey scene. He has had enough. He coughs, loudly. The couple finally release each other. Masako blushes, while Yasu quips, "Geez Naru, I haven't seen my girlfriend for days."  
Naru glares at him, "You can tell me why you are here."  
Yasu smiles stupidly at Masako, "I was missing her." Naru smacks his forehead. Yasu laughs, "Okay, okay. I have a shit load of information for you, my lord." He even bows.  
"Get in here," Naru points at the base, "Masako…no wait they have been here all along."  
Mai and Ayako who had their heads out of the door, are unperturbed at being caught by Naru. They were just curious to see what made Masako fly out of the room. Ayako supports Mai (who protests that she can walk on her own) and they get to the base.  
When everyone is at the base and they have taken their seats, Naru says, "So? What are you doing here?"  
"I am here to blow your mind," Yasu declares as he pulls out a foolscap paper out of his backpack. He unfolds the paper till it is at least three feet across. "Professor Watanabe is a gem. He has contacts everywhere. Sure he is an odd egg, but he is quite cool. It took him two days to chart this. Plus it helped that the family was once upon a time very famous!"  
Mai crawls over, "What is it?"  
"A genealogy chart going back from today to three hundred years." Everybody looks at Yasu in shock, even Naru who looks down at the sheet. Yasu continues, "Remember how I said I found two Tamakos around here? One Tamako had settled in Oda, Shimane while the other up north in Ono, Fukui. Turns out they belonged to the same family. They were brothers—Kenji and Saito Tamako. They were powerful feudal lords—subordinate only to the shogun. Now listen to me very closely—it gets real confusing. Okay, so Kenji's line as you can see ended by 1702. He had three sons and they all died. But Saito Tamako, he had two daughters and one son. The son died. I won't go all across but here's the gist of it, Saito's younger daughter, Michiru is the direct ancestor of the Kawaguchi's."  
Everybody is stunned into silence. Mai gasps, "Kenji Tamako married Nanami Kagura! Could they be the couple I saw in my dreams?"  
Naru nods, "Most probably. I can see that a lot of men die in this line. It can be safely assumed that Tamako was the original one cursed."  
"But," Mai asks, "What do these dotted lines mean?"  
Yasu replies, "Oh they are all children out of wedlock later adopted by someone else. Man, this family was scandalous. We have lovechildren. We even have incest here," he points at names on the chart, "Oga Teppei got his own cousin, Yoshimi Morita, pregnant. The kid was later adopted by Yoshimi's sister."  
"Maybe that is why the curse did not work for some generations," Lin comments, "Nagisa probably got confused."  
"The kid was named Koichiro Maruyama," Mai exclaims, "That is Ryo's grandfather!"  
Naru's attention falls on a particular name on the list. He says, "What about this Yoshiro Kurosawa? His line isn't here."  
"Well, he couldn't be traced. I am not sure what happened to him. His mother, Ono Yagami and his father, Sakito Kurosawa, moved to Hokkaido in 1822. There is no trace of them after that," Yasu explains.  
Suddenly a knock is heard on the floor, following by Sakura sheepishly smiling at them, "Shibuya-san, I found the key you were asking for." She hands them the small, ornate key. Naru takes it. He says, "You can stay if you'd like. We have some things to say. Yasu tell her what you found."  
Yasu starts explaining as Naru unlocks the box. A musky smell hits him. It has been closed for centuries now. There are a few quills, a little box of dried ink and yellowed sheets of parchment rolls. He runs his fingers under the lid, over the silk lining. His eyes fall on an embroidery in it with gold threads. It is in kanji. He beckons Lin over. He tells, "I am no good with this."  
Lin reads the name and is stunned. He whispers it to Naru, who is equally stunned.  
"Sakura-chan?" Naru says. The woman turns to look at him. "I have three questions. One, who did this box belong to?"  
"Well, my grandmother had it but it originally belonged to her father. So it belonged to my great-grandfather."  
"Okay. Two, what is your maiden name?"  
"Kurosawa."  
"Three, where are you originally from?"  
"Well, my great-great-grandfather moved to Hokkaido during the 1820s. I don't know where he used to live before that."  
"Okay."  
"Shibuya-san?"  
"Yes?"  
"Why are you asking me such questions?"  
"I know now why you and Tsugumi can see the writings."


	12. Chapter 12

"I know now why you and Tsugumi can see the writings."  
Sakura's furrows her brows, "What do you mean?"  
"This box belongs to your great-grandfather Yoshiro Kurosawa. Now follow me closely, come over here," he gestures her over to the chart, "This is your husband's genealogy chart. It goes all the way to 1702 from Saito Tamako to Masao Kawaguchi now. Do you see anything?"  
Sakura starts reading from the top from Saito Kawaguchi. Her eyes widen in shock when she spots the one name Naru wanted her to see. "Yoshiro Kawaguchi, my great-grandfather is Saito Tamako's great-great-great-grandson. We—Kenji and I are related?"  
Mai, Ayako and Yasu look on in shock.  
"You are very, very distant cousins. It is really a surprising design of the universe that you and Kenji Kawaguchi married."  
"Oh my god." Sakura puts a hand over mouth, still trying to understand what she just discovered.  
"I think Nagisa, the spirit, has figured out by now that you are also of Tamako blood. She is not too happy about the deceit."

Sakura leaves with the intention of telling her sister everything. Lin says after her departure, "If we exorcise Nagisa, will it lift the curse? It has been going strong since three hundred years."  
"I don't know," Naru mutters. He turns to look at Mai, "If you dream any further about Nanami, Nagisa and Kenji, let me know immediately."  
Ayako was reading the chart diligently when she notices a discrepancy. She says, "Hey, it says here that Saito had his youngest daughter a year after his wife died in 1724. How is that possible?"  
Naru snaps his fingers, "Mai? What did you say about Nanami's eyes?"  
"They were grey," Mai says and then when she realises where Naru is going, "You don't mean…" She kneels beside Ayako to read the chart, "Oh gosh, Kenji died, after his third son died, at the age of forty-one in 1725. Nanami was still alive. Saito had his youngest daughter in 1725. Scandalous indeed."  
"Tsugumi has grey eyes," Lin comments.  
 **"** Exactly," Naru nods, "Nanami and Saito definitely had an affair after her husband died."  
"This is a weird family," Yasu says and yawns loudly.

 **Day Six  
** Naru wakes up to his phone ringing incessantly. He squints at the caller name. It is from his contact in Hakata. He picks up the call.  
Twenty minutes later, he disconnects. A scowl etched across his handsome face. He wakes Lin and Houshou up. (Ayako had brought John and Houshou up to speed about the new developments when they returned before dinner)  
"Lin, wake the girls up. Houshou go wake the entire family up. Also Kaorin. She is in the annexe. Get everybody at the family room on this floor," Naru orders.  
Houshou leaves first, rubbing his eyes and mumbling something about "dictatorship" under his breath.  
Lin leaves second. He walks upstairs. He gets to the room and pushes the door open gently. He smiles when he sees Mai sleeping with her mouth slightly open. He kneels down beside her and says, "Mai?"  
A single strand of brown hair falls on her face. She twitches her nose clearly irritated by it. He hesitates first, but his fingers itch to touch her again. So he brushes her cheeks lightly with his fingers. He catches the strand between his fingers and winds it behind her ear. His fingers linger a little at her jawline. He smirks as he decides on a course of waking her up. He leans down and lightly presses his lips on her cheeks.  
It is funny, and salacious. She is dreaming about a very wet, very shirtless Lin. Her mouth hangs open, and she thinks she is drooling. Then something touches her cheeks. Her eyes fly open. And sure enough, the person of her desire, the man of her dreams, and the love of her life has his face close to her own first thing in the morning. So, the something that caressed her cheeks were…his lips?  
Mai furiously blushes and sits up straight. Lin leans back, taking care their heads don't bang against each other. She stutter, "S-seriously? You regret k-kissing me then you wake me up with a kiss. What is wrong with you?"  
Lin sighs, "Mai—" He really needs to practice self-restraint when it comes to Mai Taniyama.  
Whatever he was going to say gets rudely interrupted when Ayako wakes up, feels sick and gets out of her bed, shouting, "Shit shit shit!"  
This outburst wakes up Masako, who looks around all perplexed. Then she sees Mai and Lin staring at her. She says, "Oh. Good morning. Wow Mai that was fast. I thought it would take ages for you to tell him you l—" her sentence gets unfinished as Mai literally jumps at her, slapping her hand over Masako's mouth.  
Mai stammers, all the while cringing inside, "S-she sleep-sleep talks."  
Lin says nothing more, as he gets back on his feet and says, "Naru wants everyone to congregate at the family room downstairs."  
"Phew," Mai exhales after Lin leaves. Then she glares at Masako, "Don't you ever do that."  
Masako sheepishly grins, "Ok-kay!"  
Mai rolls her eyes. Masako is half-asleep. Chances are she will not even remember anything. That was a real close shave. She'd like to tell Lin her feelings on her own time. She does not need anyone's help, thank you very much.

Naru eyes everyone in the room. All the people living in the house were here, except for Ryo, who had a slight fever so he is resting in his room. He stares sharply at Kaorin Toboso, who shrinks back a little.  
"We discovered something yesterday," Naru begins, "It has been proven that Sakura and Kenji share the same bloodline. The Saito Tamako bloodline. We ascertained as such from the genealogy chart made by Professor Watanabe and by the antique box belonging to Sakura's family. The original person cursed was Tamako, and this curse has been active ever since then. However, what the curse is and how do we get rid of it is still unsolved. But now, the real reason why I called you here."  
Naru turns to stare at Kaorin again, "You knew about this family's history, didn't you?"  
Kaorin gasps and says, "What? No, no! How can I?"  
"You can stop pretending, Miss Kaorin Mitsui, daughter of Ono Maruyama and Kaishi Mitsui."  
Kenji says, leaning forward, greatly agitated, "Ono? Auntie Ono? She is her daughter?"  
"Yes," Naru nods, "I checked with her university. There are two Kaorins: Kaorin Toboso and Kaorin Mitsui. On asking, my contact said that the Kaorin Toboso is actually in India while the other Kaorin had gone home for personal reasons. I pulled up their addresses and checked. One of them lived in Nagasaki while the other lived in Matsuyama. The house in Matsuyama belonged to an Ono Maruyama. I soon realised that you had taken someone else's identity and came here for something."  
"Auntie Ono was disowned by her parents when she decided to have a baby out of wedlock and live with Mitsui. I was in university then," Kenji reminisces, "I did hear from Auntie Masako that they had a daughter."  
"But," Yasu says, "That is double standards. Ono and Masako's father, Koichiro, was an illegitimate child himself."  
Sakura gasps, "What?"  
"Yeah. He was the result of an affair between two cousins."  
Lin warns, "Yasu. Not now."  
Kaorin bows her head, and starts shivering, "Do you know why I am here?"  
"Tell us," Naru says.  
"My mother was telling me a story about her family that disowned her. She was telling how her family might have descended from a daimyo family. Apparently, her great-grandmother had this precious scroll. A painting of the original family. She was saying it would fetch millions in the market now. We aren't as well off to do like the Kawaguchis. I thought…I thought it might be in that box."  
"You thought about stealing it," Naru says, "And you know you won't be caught because no one had ever seen you before."  
Tears start rolling down her face. Kenji sighs, "Kaorin, the old man's dead now. I am happy to reconnect with Auntie Ono again, if she is willing to."  
Kaorin gives him a watery smile, "I am so sorry."  
"It is okay, I forgive you."  
Mai smiles, real happy inside. She is glad that this family reunion happened amidst all the tragedy surrounding them currently.

Even though she and Yasu were supposed to keep watch over the monitor screens as Lin takes a nap, Mai wishes she was doing something else. She is chewing her nail, when Yasu asks, "Say Mai, Masako said that you kissed Lin?"  
Mai rolls her eyes, even though the memory of it sends her heart galloping, "He kissed me first."  
"Ooh!"  
"Shut up," she cries, her face red.  
"Hey!" Yasu exclaims, pointing at a screen, "What is this?"  
The screen he is pointing at shows feed from Masao's room. Both of them stare breathless at an apparition of an old man. The old man.  
Yasu says, "That looks like from the eighteenth century."  
Suddenly a light bulb blows up in Mai's mind. She says, "Eighteenth century! That means this is…this is Saito Tamako!"  
"Huh?"  
"Kenji Tamako died in his early forties! So this is no one else but Saito!"  
"Holy…this is the ghost that had been trying to protect his progeny hasn't he?" Masako had told him everything.  
"Yep."  
When they look back at the screen, Saito is nowhere to be found. Mai takes off without warning. Pain be damned! Yasu calls her, when she doesn't stop, he curses as he follows her.  
She races down the stairs at full speed. She pulls back the door to Masao's room and pants. Cold is what she feels first. Her breath clouds in front of her face. She doesn't understand why but somehow she felt this urgent need to get to this room. But fear replaces anticipation when she notices the shadow again, floating down from the ceiling. It is ominous and she knows it will harm her.  
However, a force pushes her in and closes the door behind her. Yasu gets there and sees Mai get pulled into the room and the door closing behind her. He tries prying it open. With his heart sinking, he realises that it is stuck, and Mai is in imminent danger.  
Mai looks dumbstruck as the shadow takes a form. A woman no older than her in a traditional kimono, glaring at her. She says, her voice like nails on a chalkboard, "Nanami."  
"Wha-what? I am not Nanami. My name is Mai," Mai whimpers, a cold sweat covers her face.  
"NANAMI!" she screeches. The sound cuts like a razor through the cold air. Mai falls to her knees. She puts her hands to her ears and tears roll down her cheeks. The sound reverberates in her skull making her ears hurt. She begs, "Nagisa stop!"  
It works. Nagisa stops and stares at Mai, who raises her head and says, "Please. Why are you doing this?"  
Nagisa's form shifts, like static on a television. She rasps, "Nanami will pay." She flies at Mai who raises her arms to protect herself.  
Nagisa passes through her but to her it feels as if a knife stabs her through. The pain numbs her. She hears a sound. She hears someone calling her name. She wants to respond but she cannot. Someone holds her. Then darkness engulfs her and she faints.

Lin carries Mai in his arms. He is glad to feel her breath tickling his neck because that is how he knows she is alive. He had seen her acing penalty shots. He has seen her nearly break Kenji's hand. He has seen her knocking out Sentaro with ease. But now, bunched up in his arm, she looks a little fragile. Not that he thinks she is weak, he thinks she is one of the strongest people he has ever met. Her strength to be never dependent on anyone is something he respects and admires a lot. But right now, he only wishes she would open her eyes and say something ridiculous about her being carried by him.  
When Yasu couldn't get the door opened, he had run all the way to his room. Lin had just woken up and he was talking to Naru when Yasu had flown in shouting about Mai, Lin had jumped out of bed not really hearing the rest of what was said and followed Yasu out of the room.  
The door wasn't opening. That wasn't a hindrance, as one single simple order to his shikis blasted it. He was just in time to see Mai's head lolling back, about to crash against the wooden floor. He caught her in time.  
He gets to the base and gently puts her on the floor. He flings a blanket over her. He hears footsteps behind him. The rest of them gape at Mai. Houshou asks, "What happened?"  
"Let's watch the tape," Lin says, his voice shaky.  
He rewinds the tape and sees it from the beginning: from the old man appearing to Nagisa attacking Mai.  
Yasu speaks, "Mai said that the old man is Saito Tamako."  
"Of course," Naru whispers, "It is credible. Maybe, the deaths that didn't occur over the three centuries could be due to Saito's interference."  
"And you keep saying she is stupid," Houshou smirks.  
Ayako kneels down beside Mai and checks her pulse. It is steady. She sighs in relief.  
Lin peers at Mai from the corner of his eyes. Maybe, he should listen to his heart. How long does he plan to avoid his feelings for her anyway?

 _She screams. Her kosode is on fire. Kenji gave it to her. Why?  
_ _"I told you again and again, I am in love with Nanami!"  
_ _"I don't care! She must d—"  
_ _Nagisa is cut short. She doesn't see what happens to her when Kenji wraps his hands around her and pushes her in the pond. The pond was at least two feet deep. Water soaks her dress, her hair—but the fire stops. She stands up, her feet in the water, coughing and wiping her face trying to clear her blurry vision. She cries out loud when she sees the scene in front of her.  
_ _Kenji is standing at the edge. Nagisa is slumped over the podium and Saito Tamako stands over her, a sword in his hand. The blade is halfway in Nagisa's back and blood pools around Kenji's feet. She gets on the podium, tears in her eyes. It ended but still…Nagisa was her sister.  
_ _"Nagisa?" she whispers, stroking her wild unkept hair.  
_ _"Move away Nanami-san! The witch might try to hurt you!" Saito shouts.  
_ _Nanami shouts back, "Saito-kun! She is my sister!"  
_ _"She tried to kill you!"  
_ _"I don't care! You killed her!"  
_ _"Nanami," the body moves. She raises her head a little, the fire of detest still burning bright in her eyes, "I curse you! I curse Kenji! And I curse Saito! You will die and so will your children and their children!" Then life leaves her as her eyes shut and the last breath escapes her lips.  
_ _The remaining people around the stage gasp. A witch's dying words are the most powerful curse. Nanami pushes Saito away. She pulls the sword out of Nagisa's back and hugs her back. Tears roll down her cheeks. Oh Nagisa, I am so sorry, so sorry, so sorry. This is all my fault. I deserve it.  
_ _I deserve to be cursed._

Lin hears Mai mumble. There is only them both in this room. The others were cleansing the house again in an attempt to coax Nagisa out. He gets close to her. He is surprised to see her crying. She keeps repeating "I am so sorry" again and again.  
He wipes away the tears and softly says, "Mai?" That manages to wakes her up. Her eyes are filled with water, her cheeks are flushed. She sits up. Then she throws her arms around Lin and sobs, her face pressed to his shoulder.  
He is a little startled by her actions, but he says nothing as he wraps one arm around her and with the other strokes her hair. He doesn't say anything, waiting for her to speak first. She sobs for a long time. He holds her silently.  
When she thinks she can cry no longer, she raises her head and pushes him back, slightly. She sniffs, "I am sorry for that." He still had one arm around her. The hand on her neck is making her a bit flustered.  
"That is okay,"' he mutters, "Did you have a dream?"  
She nods, "A sad one." Her eyes shine again as she tries to hold back the floodgates from opening.  
Maybe it is the sad, haunted look in her eyes. He didn't want her to cry anymore. Maybe it was that when he cups her face and says, "Maybe I can help."  
That makes her look up at him. His face is way too close to her. Her tiny gasp gets mumbled when he softly presses his lips to her. Her eyes flutter close. He increase the pressure a little. It was a chaste kiss because he pulls back soon and smiles, "Is that okay?"  
Mai whispers, "Not really enough." She presses her lips against his this time.  
He is surprised a little by how forward she is. He smiles under her lips and brings her closer, pressing her closer to him. The kiss deepens. But then he hears the door opening. They quickly pull back. It is Yasu who is staring at them all flabbergasted.  
"Oh my God, Lin is blushing!" he shouts. His amusement gets cold water thrown over it when Lin glares at him. Mai tries to hide a grin.  
Lin says, "And why are you here?" he crosses his arms. He hasn't moved away from Mai.  
"Did I mention anywhere that the Tamakos were nobles? Not only were they wealthy but they were extremely popular. So Nanami basically married into royalty. And since she became quite famous too…Look what I found," Yasu waves his hand, a scroll of paper clutched in his hand. He sits down opposite Lin and rolls open the sheet. He says, "An European painter, visiting Japan drew this, because he was enthralled by her beauty. I heard the ghost calling Mai Nanami so I took a wild guess. Then I got the professor to track it to a French museum and printed it out for me last night and faxed it over."  
Mai and Lin stare down at the picture and collectively gasp.


	13. Chapter 13

Impossible. But it does make sense to her. She remembers being confused at the dream she had when she had stood in front of the mirror and wondered why she looked like a better version of herself. She whispers, completely in awe, "Who is this Yasu?"  
"Nanami Tamako," Yasu answers, "Nagisa was confused by the resemblance. And that is why she attacked you twice."  
"She resembles you," Lin says, very much awed himself, "It is like you are her doppelganger."  
The painting was of a woman in her mid-twenties decked in a traditional kimono. She had black hair and grey eyes. Her expression is sad though. Mai touches the face in the painting, "She looks so sad doesn't she?"  
"Yup," Yasu says, "I reckon it was soon after when her first son died."  
Mai nods. Then they hear footsteps outside the door. They look up to see John panting at the entrance. He says, in between breaths, "Ryo, he is dead."

Tsugumi had taken in a late tea snack to Ryo's room. The blinds were drawn down and the room was ridiculously dark. She tiptoed across the room, trying to find the light switch. When she turned on the light, she screamed. That brought out Kaorin from her room, who fell to her knees, nauseous.  
Ryo Kasuga was dead. There was blood pouring out of his eyes, mouth and ears.  
The doctor ruled it as either a case of cranial pressure or brain aneurysm when Tsugumi informed that Ryo was having chronic headaches. But the family and those from Shibuya Psychic Research knew better.

 **Day Seven  
** Yasu does not like it. But he wasn't going to go butt his head against a wall. And by wall he means his arrogant, obnoxious, relentless boss, Kazuya Shibuya. So he grudgingly sits back in a corner, about to watch his girlfriend getting possessed by Saito Tamako.  
Naru had decided to talk to Saito. And Masako will get him to possess her. Sure there is the danger of anybody else possessing her, so Houshou, Ayako and John stay alert on their toes. Yasu silently prays that everything goes well.  
They are all seated in the men's sleeping quarters. Masako has Ayako on her right and John on her left. They are seated around a kotatsu. Lin stands guard behind Masako with Houshou on his side. Yasu, Naru and Mai stand with their backs pressed against the wall, opposite them. They are all edgy.  
Masako tries to calm her mind and composure. Ayako is scared. John clutches his Bible and vial of holy water hard enough to leave an impression on his palm. Houshou keeps his eyes both on his wife and the medium, getting increasingly worried by the minute; he had been attacked by the angry spirit, and that little experience left him rattled. Lin is calm on the surface but his shikis are prepared to jump in action anytime he feels something is wrong. Naru is relaxed but that doesn't mean he isn't nervous, Lin had told him more than once that his little stratagem is highly dangerous. Yasu is angry and worried; if anything untoward happens to Masako, he will make sure Naru pays. Mai chews her lips, she is scared and she won't deny it.  
They all feel it, spiritualists and non-spiritualists included. The air gets colder, the atmosphere heavier. The afternoon sun is bright outside but it feels like dusk inside. Masako makes a choking noise as her eyes remain closed. Her expression changes. She says in a rougher, heavier voice, "Who are you people?"  
Naru kneels across Masako and says, "We are ghost hunters. Your family has hired us to dispel the curse that has haunted them for centuries, Saito-san."  
"You know my name," her forehead wrinkles.  
"We know a lot more: you have been protecting the family from Nagisa, haven't you?"  
Saito sighs through Masako's lips, "Yes. It is all my doing. Everything."  
"What did you do?"  
"Nagisa and Nanami were step-sisters. Even though Nanami loved her step-sibling, Nagisa hated her. People said she practiced witchcraft. We didn't believe anyone at first but then…when Nanami and Kenji's engagement was announced, Nagisa went insane. Cattles died, people fell ill…" Lin gets suspicious, it felt like the old man was holding something back.  
"Then she set Nanami on fire and you killed her. Not before she cursed you all."  
"Yes."  
"Why?"  
"She—."  
He is cut short when a strong gust of wind rips around Masako's hair. Her head snaps back and her eyes open to show her eyeballs rolled so back that only the whites were visible. A horrible blood-curdling screeching fills the room. It is Masako making the unholy sound.  
She gets to her feet and she looks straight at Mai who gasps at her. It is a truly terrifying sight to see Masako with her eyes like that, her hair wildly dancing around her head and then she bares her teeth at Mai. A raspy voice says, pointing at Mai, "Nanami."  
Then she jumps on her. Before Mai could fathom, Masako crashes against her leading Mai to lose her balance and both girls to fall, crashing on the floor. The tatami mats do nothing to pillow her fall and the pain shoots up Mai' back. Next she chokes when Masako starts asphyxiating her by wrapping her fingers around her neck. Her strength surprises Mai.  
Even though her oxygen is getting limited and her eyes get watery she sees Lin, Naru and Yasu trying to wrench Masako off her. It doesn't work. Nagisa in Masako's body screams, "Mine, Kenji was supposed to be mine! I loved him! More than Nanami did! She was in love with Saito! I knew everything! EVERYTHING! But Kenji never listened…" a sob shakes her entire body. Mai starts seeing stars behind her eyes, "So I cursed them! I cursed them all! But that Saito kept interfering! AHHHHHHH!"  
Mai finally feels air returning to her brain when the hands around her neck are removed. She blinks to see Masako clutching her head and screaming. John has started chanting and spraying her with holy water. But that doesn't stop her. She lunges at John.  
Yasu shouts, "Masako!"  
Lin kneels down beside Mai. She coughs and thinks she has never seen this expression on him before. He looked so troubled, his pupils are diluted and she never remembers him to be this scared. He doesn't say anything as he lifts her by her shoulder and presses her against his chest. Mai calms down a little as his clean scent fills her olfactory senses, but not calm enough as she sees the rest of the horrific scene unfold over his collar.  
None of the chants—John's and Houshou's—were working. They all seem to instigate her more.  
Ayako didn't want to, but now she sees she has no other choice. She mumbles sorry and begs Masako's forgiveness in advance as she shouts aloud by waving her hands vertically, "Rin, toh, kai, retsu, zen," then the rest quartet by slashing her hand through the air horizontally, "Pyo, sha, jin, zai."  
With great sadness in her eyes, Ayako watches as the poor girl's blood seeps through the back of her kimono. Masako finally reverts back to her original self and gurgles before swaying and falling. Yasu catches her just in time.  
No one says anything, as the air gets back to normalcy again. Yasu whispers, "Masako? Masako? Are you okay?"  
She hears him. Masako opens her eyes and tries saying something but then loses her consciousness. Houshou kneels down and checks her pulse. He solemnly says, "It is feeble. Yasu, John? Let's go to the hospital now! Lin?"  
Lin, who hasn't moved from Mai's side or released her from his embrace, nods and says, "Ayako and I will take care of things here."  
The three men leave with Masako bundled up in Yasu's arms.

Later in the evening, Ayako, Lin, Mai and Naru are at the base when Ayako sighs, "I didn't want to use the Nine Cuts on her."  
"She would have killed Mai otherwise," Lin says, his voice flat. He sat beside Mai and held her hand. Mai squeezes gently to let him know that she isn't mad at Masako for anything. He gets it as he relaxes a bit. He says, with much more feeling now, "I am sure she will be all right."  
Ayako nods.  
Suddenly the door slides open with enough force to rip the door off its frame. It is Yasu. He beelines straight for Naru. He grabs him by his collar, dragging him up. Then fisting his hands, lands a solid punch on Naru's face. Naru's head lolls back. Lin tries to get to his feet, vexed, when Mai grabs his sleeves. She whispers, "Let him. He is mad. Naru feels bad enough, he isn't using his powers. And he will heal fast."  
Lin nods his head. He sees blood trickling out of Naru's nose. Yasu then punches him in his guts. Naru doubles over and falls to his knees. Yasu is about to kick Naru in that position when Ayako gets in between. She cries, "Stop it Yasu! If you hit him anymore, you will have to hit me too. I hurt her as well!"  
Yasu stops. The wild look in his eyes fading a little. His breathing gets back to his normal pace as he gazes blankly at Ayako. He mutters, "No. You had to. But this son of a bitch knew it was dangerous! If anything happens to Masako, I will kill him."  
He turns around and hurries out of the base. On his way out he nearly bumps into John and Houshou who had heard the last sentence Yasu uttered. John takes off after him as Houshou enters the base. He looks alarmed at Naru lying on his side with blood running down his nose.  
Mai untangles her hand from Lin and crawls up to Naru. She crouches over Naru and strokes his head. She says, "It was kind of you to not use your true powers."  
Naru coughs and sits up. Mai removes her hand. He touches his nose and says, "I did allow this to happen when I knew it was dangerous. Yasu's actions were justified. It would've been wrong to hit him back." He reminded her of Gene so much right now that nostalgia manages to rip a whole in her guts as she swallows back the tears.  
"I will get some first aid," Ayako says as she gets to her feet. She looks at Houshou and asks, "How is Masako?"  
"The cuts were deep but not lethal. However, it seems she might be in a coma of sorts. The stimulants they gave her didn't work. Her organs are okay. The doctors think her subconscious decided to turn her off. Only she can will herself to wake up," Houshou says as he runs a hand through his hair.  
"No," Mai says and cannot really help it as tears start streaming her cheeks anyway.  
Suddenly Ayako remembers something, "Uh, Mai? Why did Nagisa call you Nanami?"  
"Mai is Nanami's doppelganger," Lin explains, "Of sorts."  
Ayako gasps and covers her mouth. She leaves the base. Houshou decides to go check on Yasu. He knows no one is to blame but his heart cries for poor Masako. She didn't deserve this. The faster they exorcise Nagisa, the happier he will be.  
When they had all left, Lin says, "Mai you should leave." Ayako's reaction had triggered a new worry in hi.  
Mai whips her head around and asks, "Why?"  
"Nagisai might attack you again."  
"I am not leaving y—I am not leaving!"  
Naru says, "He is right. It is dangerous for you here. Nagisa is mad, she can't distinguish the obvious differences between you and Nanami."  
"Yes," Lin says.  
"I am not leaving and that is final!" Mai shouts.  
Lin gets mad at her stubbornness. He raises his voice, "If you care about me, then leave!"  
Naru raises his eyebrow in surprise. Mai gasps and her eyes widen. She just gets angrier still. She shouts back, "Why you! You would use my feelings for you against this! You are despicable! I am not leaving you here!"  
"I can take care of myself!"  
"So can I!"  
Lin sighs angrily and rubs his face, "Mai, for gods' sakes, why are you being so adamant?"  
"I don't want to run just because a spirit has mistaken me for her dead step-sister!"  
"Mai please."  
"No."  
"Mai. Why are you being so difficult? Nothing is going to happen to me," he sighs exasperatedly and says in a low tone, "Why do you have to care so much?"  
"Because I am in love with you that is why!"


	14. Chapter 14

Needless to say, all three of them are stunned silent. Lin, in pure, unadulterated shock. Mai, in embarrassment. Naru, as a spectator who is surprised at the turn of events.  
Mai stands up and promptly escapes. She cannot believe she said that. Of all times, of all places and of all people rather than Naru to bear witness, she confessed her love to Lin. She runs to her room and is glad to find it empty. She shuts the door and grabs a pillow. She presses her face against it and screams, her voice muffled by the pillow. Stupid, stupid, stupid, she chants over and over in her head.  
She really cannot believe herself. This little slip of tongue is going to cost her so much.

Back at the base, the two men sit still. Naru with his eyes on Lin, trying to gauge the older man's reaction but he cannot because Lin has his head bowed. His fringe conveniently covers his face. Naru clears his throat, "Uh, Lin?"  
"Why me?" Lin murmurs.  
Naru hears it. That is a rather odd thing to ask. He looks closely at his friend of years. Suddenly he realises. Koujo Lin never had any love interests in his life before. Sure he went on casual dates now and then in London. But he never did love anyone. In short, Naru concludes, "You have never been in love, have you?"  
Lin shakes his head. He knows by now he has feelings for Mai, but he did not know if they were love or not. She is in love with him and he couldn't do anything about it. God knows what she thinks of him now.  
Naru sighs, "I don't know what made her fall for you but…Lin, don't keep her hanging along."  
Lin looks up sharply at Naru who laughs, "Relax! I am not talking about me, I am just saying that the next man in her life might come along and sweep her off her feet while you stupidly look on."  
Lin doesn't miss his tone. He sounds gloomy. Suddenly he remembers a little incident that occurred two years ago…

 _"Naru! I think…I love you!" Mai says hastily. She hadn't noticed that Lin hadn't left the room.  
_ _Naru had his back turned to her. His shoulders droop. He turns around and solemnly asks, "Do you love me or do you love Gene? We do have the same face."  
_ _"Naru, bu—"  
_ _"No Mai. You think you love me, but it was Gene who you really love," he sighs and looks tired, "You don't love me Mai."_

Lin didn't understand why Naru had seemed so tired back then. He slowly says, "You liked her. All those years ago, you liked her."  
Naru rubs his nose and slightly nods. Lin continues, "But she told you her feelings and then after when you got to know she was seeing Gene in her dreams, you realised her real feelings were actually not for you but for Gene."  
"That is why Lin," Naru says, "Don't do something you might regret."  
Lin stands up. He is going to go see her.

Mai lies spread-eagled on the floor. Her gaze locks on the ceiling as remorse hits her hard. The phase of embarrassment was over. Regret and sadness descended upon her like a thick dark cloud. Why did she tell him she loves him? He doesn't love her. She is definitely not his type. She is younger, immature and is perpetually in trouble. He would never come to love her. Why did she have such poor choice in men? The first guy she fell for was actually dead and she thought he was someone else. The next man her heart decides to trip over is out of her league. It is like he is the sun and she is the farthest planet in his solar system. Neglected and ignored, shivering in the darkness. How did she ever fantasise that she could be with him? She isn't worthy. She is just Mai Taniyama.  
Just then, she hears his voice through the door, "Mai?" She doesn't respond. She cannot face him, not now. "Mai please, I need to talk to you."  
She gets up and crawls to the door. Her hand reaches out to slide the door open but she stops. She puts her back to the door and sighs, fighting the tears. This will break her heart, _no this is breaking her heart,_ she says, "Talk."  
"Like this?" Lin asks. The fact that she refuses to see him worries him.  
"Yes."  
"Okay," he sits down outside the door, "Mai…I…"  
"You cannot love me, I know. I sort of prepared myself for this," she needs to do this quick, like ripping the Band-Aid off a wound—the quicker you do it, the less it hurt, "It is okay. You are not at fault. Neither will I impose on you. _I_ fell for you, this is my problem, not yours. I just…don't want your…" she cannot hold back, the floodgates open, "Pity."  
A tightness closes around his chest. This was the last thing he wanted to hear from her. _No, not like this._ He rests his palm on the wood and feels helpless. He doesn't pity her, he really doesn't. He hurt her and that makes him feel like a criminal. He says, "Mai…"  
"Lin," she sniffs, "Please leave. I…it is nothing…just I want to be alone for a while, okay?"  
He mutely obeys. His limbs automatically support him as he stands up and let his feet take him wherever. His mind is in a mess. He doesn't even recognise the typhoon of emotions swirling and crashing against his conscious. He doesn't even acknowledge Ayako who asks him thrice what is wrong. He goes down the stairs and down the corridor. He walks out of the house. His eyes fall on the cherry tree. He gulps, trying to suppress the memory of first kissing her here. He puts his back to the tree and looks over the lake.  
The sun is a red sliver in the horizon. The chill is setting in but the cold in his bones isn't the weather's doing. She was crying. And it wounded him to know he caused it.

Back at the house, Mai is curled on the floor in a foetal position as she lets the tears flow freely. _It hurt so much, so freaking much._ She did it quickly, ripped off the metaphorical adhesive, but…it didn't make a difference, it still hurt.  
When her tears run dry, she sits up and rubs her face. She had made a decision—she is going to quit SPR after this case. No way can she stay any longer around Lin without feeling hurt and sad. She drags her knees to her chest and thinks it would have been better if they had never returned.  
No, she regrets thinking like that. The three months they were here and all the cases they took made her very happy in a long time. She just didn't take into account the fact that she would fall in love with Lin. Sure, by the time they had left two years ago, she knew she was over Naru. But when they came back, she gravitated towards the older man. It wasn't fleeting, it wasn't an infatuation. This isn't the mild disappointment she felt when Naru rebuked her. This landed a blow down to her very core.  
She feels very tired. Who knew crying your heart out led to such tiredness? Her eyelids droop and she doesn't resist the pull of Hypnos as she grabs a blanket and dozes off.

 **A/N. So I got two exams back to back. I will not be posting before the tenth. So the nice person that I am, I leave you two chapters. :3**


	15. Chapter 15

_It is dark when her eyes open. She is standing near the koi pond again. The moon keeps playing hide and seek with the clouds. It is summer maybe because she can smell jasmines somewhere in the garden. It is quiet, and peaceful. Suddenly she feels liquid running down her cheeks. She touches her face to realise she is crying. Why is she crying?  
_ _As she puts her hand in front of her face, she was wearing a white, plain kimono. She hears a noise behind her. It is Saito. He comes closer and touches her face. She mutely registers her surprise. He says, with great sadness, "I never wanted this to happen to you and brother."  
_ _"Whatever is going to happen will happen, we mere mortals are dust to the great flow of time Saito-chan," she says. She puts her hand on top of his and leans into his palm. She continues, "At least I still got you."  
_ _"I should have married you," Saito says.  
_ _"Yes. But you loved your brother more. But…we need to be careful. You cannot be seen with me like this. After all I am now Kenji Tamako's widow."  
_ _He solemnly nods as she removes his hand from her cheek. He crosses his arms behind his back and looks up at the sky. He sighs, "Nanami? Do you still love me?"  
_ _She says nothing at first. Then she turns around and softly says, "I still love you and Nagisa paid the price for that."  
_ _"You are still thinking about that?"  
_ _She sharply turns around and says, with venom in her voice, "You killed her Saito!"  
_ _"Nanami…" he looks on dumbfounded as she turns her head again and slowly walks away.  
_ _Mai walks down a corridor next. A cold hand grasps her and pulls her back. She looks about but finds no one. Then suddenly the scene shifts. The ground beneath her cracks and she falls through it. She brings her hands forwards to grab on to something, anything but it is useless. She notices that she is no longer in a kimono; her hands are bare. So she is no longer living in this dream through Nanami. This is her own.  
_ _She hits the ground. It is cold. The place is shrouded in complete darkness besides the sole light that falls on her from above. Where is above? She looks up but the light hurts her retinas, she cannot see an end.  
_ _She takes stock of her surroundings next. She gets to her feet and walks around a bit. The light follows her, lighting the way—except there is nothing to see. She feels like she is a never-ending tunnel. She increases her pace and soon enough she is running. But she is getting nowhere.  
_ _What is going on? Is she…trapped in her own mind?_

Ayako, after fixing Naru, enters her room. She is a little surprised to see Mai fast asleep at this odd hour but says nothing. She has a little problem of her own now. The hypothesis that she could be pregnant is slowly turning into a fact she can no longer deny. She is half excited, half worried. Are the even ready for a baby? They are financially secure and they are not exactly too young for children. She rubs her face in frustration. What is her problem? Maybe Mai could help. She looks over at the sleeping girl and suddenly remembers the way Lin behaved a few minutes prior. He was walking down the corridor from their room. Did something happen between them?  
She leans closer to Mai and her doubt turns into certainty when she sees the dried tear tracks on her face. Mai was crying? Did he make her cry? She frowns. Should she poke her nose in their business? Then she shakes her head. No, Mai is like a younger sister she never had. This _is_ her business. She gets to her feet and decides to find Lin.

Lin is leaning against the tree and looking over the smooth glass-like surface of the lake. The heavy feeling in his chest refuses to go away. He wants to do something about it. He wants to understand his feelings. He had never been in love. How does love even feel like?  
He hears footsteps behind him. He perks up thinking it might be Mai. Alas, his hopes are crushed when he sees it is only Ayako…and she looks very angry. She walks up to Lin and grabs his collar. The taller man stumbles and expresses surprise by the forcefulness. Ayako squints her eyes and her lips are pressed so tightly, it is almost entirely linear. She hisses, "What did you do to Mai, you emotionless alien robot?"  
He drops his gaze and whispers, "Am I an emotionless robot?"  
Ayako releases his collar, confused she asks, "What?"  
He refuses to make eye contact with her. He mumbles, "Mai is in love with me and…I don't know what to do."  
Even though he was speaking in a low volume, she hears it. Her anger recedes. She chuckles. He looks at her, confused. _What is so funny?  
_ As if hearing his question loud and clear, she answers, "Koujo Lin, you are an idiot. No, you're not an emotionless robot. You are human in spite whatever you may do. You don't need to do much. Just stop overthinking. Love is simple, we, humans, tend to complicate it." And then she walks off, feeling very smug at what she said.  
Lin keeps looking at her back. He felt like maybe, just maybe, the clouds in his head has lifted. It is simple, why mess it up right? He smiles and runs his hand through his hair. Sometimes Matsuzaka says the damnedest things.  
He decides to try see Mai again. Maybe this time he can make her hear what he really wanted to say.

 _She aimlessly walks about, thinking and wishing that she might find some way of escape. Suddenly the scene changes. Now she gets this distinct feeling that she just might be in somebody's play and they are changing the backdrops. She squashes her fears as she concentrates on the scene in front her. Two young men, hidden behind a tall tree, spying on a young girl with messy hair.  
_ _"Kenji, I bet you a few dozen scrips, you cannot win over Nagisa any day!" one of the men say. Mai deduces that if that is Kenji, then this is Saito. She frowns at the things he says though.  
_ _Kenji grins smugly and says, "It is on. Even though I think Nanami is much more beautiful, and let's not forget dignified!"  
_ _"Okay, make her fall for you in a week!"  
_ _"You are on!" She is really getting mad at them two.  
_ _The scenes change and morph with scraps of words floating down to her. From whatever she can hear she fathoms that the seduction of Nagisa for winning a bet continued for some time. The crazy whirlwind of colours and words stop. It gets stabilised and she is standing near a waterfall. It is misty and if she wasn't scared she would say the place was beautiful. She spots Nagisa ankle deep in the water, chanting.  
_ _Then Mai watches in fearful awe as her chanting increases. Her entire body convulses and the water violently laps around her feet. With a jolt, Mai notices Nagisa is dressed in a white burial kimono. Then it hits her the kimono in which Nagisa has always appeared before them is white like this. This means, that this scene could be the precedent to her death at Saito's hands.  
_ _Nagisa cries, "Kenji lied. But he doesn't know, he doesn't know that Nanami and Saito are in love with each other! I want to ruin them all for playing with me! Gods of the underworld, I want my vengeance, give me the power to exact revenge on those who have wronged me!"  
_ _Mai clasps her hands over her mouth as Nagisa brings out a dagger from the folds of her dress and stabs herself in the heart. She falls on the water and the crystal clear water swirls her blood like ribbons until her very kimono gets stained red. It is a truly horrific sight. But the horror doesn't end here.  
_ _Nagisa comes back to life. She tilts her head sideways as if listening to something. Mai too tries and to her surprise she hears a kind of low mumble in the wind. Sheer terror grips her as she cannot understand them completely but judging by Nagisa's expression, she does. She gets out of the water. Her face is blank. She passes Mai and walks off, probably to the direction of the wedding.  
_ _What just happened? If she killed herself, how did she reanimate herself? Did she or did that voice do something? But then again, did Saito kill a corpse? She didn't reanimate herself then!  
_ _Mai has to wake up. This is not right. She needs to wake up and tell everyone. But again that conviction grips her that this isn't her dream. Someone is showing her all this. But who? And more importantly, why?_


	16. Chapter 16

_Someone is showing her all this. But who? And more importantly, why?  
_ _Is this Nagisa? As if to answer her question, a figure appears in her peripheral. She gulps, and prays this is part of the vision and not the dream. The figure moves closer to her. Mai finally turns her head around to look at…Nagisa? But this Nagisa is wearing a pale yellow yukata and her expression is softer. She says, "Sorry."  
_ _"Sorry? For what?" Mai asks, her heart dropping to her knees.  
_ _"She has trapped us both here?"  
_ _"W-who?"  
_ _"The other Nagisa."  
_ _"The other Nagisa?"  
_ _This Nagisa nods her head and puts a finger over Mai's lips. A wind whips around them and again they are transported somewhere else. Mai had her eyes closed when the wind picked up. When she opens them she sees they are in a shrine. Nagisa removes her finger. She smiles kindly at Mai and says, "We are safe here. But you are living, you should not stay here. Youu should go back." She sits down on a stone step and pats the space beside her. Mai sits down.  
_ _Mai chokes, as she holds back the tears of desperation, "But how will I?"  
_ _"Can I ask you something?" Mai nods. "If you are here that means you can travel through dreams, do you not have a dream guide?"  
_ _"I had one…but he disappeared. But can I ask you something?" Nagisa nods. "Why are you here and what is happening? What did you mean by other Nagisa?"  
_ _Her face saddens. She bites her lips, "I was most of the times, okay, almost normal. I would be happy and jovial. Then sometimes clouds would darken everything and I would become this…this monster. I was like that when my mother died and my father remarried. I was so jealous of Nanami's beauty and popularity. But then Nanami with her kindness and good heart, brought me back to normalcy and for a while I really loved my step-sister too. That doesn't mean I didn't have episodes of violence. People started calling me a witch. Nanami still kept protecting me from everything and everybody. Only she could make me return to myself. Then…Kenji and Saito…" A sob breaks out.  
_ _Mai wraps her arm around her and says, "I saw that. Was it your doing, or?"  
_ _"No, no I did that. So you see, when I got to know of their deceit, I broke completely. I wasn't a witch, but I read about the occult. So I…"  
_ _"Somehow bewitched yourself to exact revenge on those who wronged you."  
_ _She puts her face in her hands and her entire body shakes as she cries, "Yes. The other me took over completely and I only watched from a distance as she slaughtered everyone. All the blood on my hands! Maybe this is why I cannot have any peace! I have been damned forever!"  
_ _Mai doesn't understand the how of it all but her heart goes out to the girl beside her. She pulls Nagisa closer and hugs her as the girl keeps on crying.  
_ _But their moment is destroyed when a shrill, blood-chilling female voice shouts, shaking everything—the trees, the shrine, the very air—around them, "No escape! No escape! They all must die!"  
_ _Nagisa looks up and whimpers, "That is her. Who will she kill next? How much bloodshed, how much more bloodshed?"  
_ _Mai looks up at the grey sky and wonders the same thing. Three centuries and the spirit is still not satisfied. She hopes she can get out of this hell. She looks at the teary girl in her arms, she fervently hopes she can leave as well.  
_ _But how?_

"It has been two hours, Mai never naps for so long!" Ayako shouts at Lin.  
Lin, after making his decision to see her, had made to Mai's room only to find her sleeping. So he had left, thinking he would tell her what he feels later when she wakes up. Then a couple of hours passed. He got busy typing in the day's events in his report when Ayako bursts into the base proclaiming the abovementioned words.  
Naru frowns, "What do you mean?"  
"Come look for yourself, something is not right," Ayako says.  
The two men follow her. Mai is still on the floor but she is crying in her sleep. Ayako says, "I think she is dreaming. But touch her hand or feet."  
Lin touches her hand and looks up at Ayako in shock. He says, "They are ice cold."  
"Naru, what if Nagisa did the same thing she did with Masako to Mai too?" Ayako asks Naru, her eyes shining.  
Naru scratches his chin. He looks at Lin, "Can you do anything? Mai can be helped right? She is different than Masako. Her conscious is far more..."  
Lin stoically nods. Even though this is very invasive, going into someone's mind, he will do anything to save her. He sits down Indian style and closes his eyes. He calls on one of his shikis for protection. The familiar and his master coordinate their minds as they jump into Mai's unconscious mind.

 _Ayako was right. Mai is stuck in her mind. Must be Nagisa's doing, because he cannot find her essence anywhere. Maybe he will have to travel further and deeper. Maybe if she still had Gene as her dream guide she wouldn't be so indisposed. First, he comes across her conscious. The guilt and remorse of telling him her feelings makes him stumble. He had no idea she was this strongly and severely affected. He will make up to her, he solemnly promises.  
_ _Next, her subconscious offers no trace of her self either. Here, again the feelings and emotions, and all the memories dazzle him momentarily. He doesn't browse or touch any of her memories. But he accidentally brushes his conscious against one. It is the memory of the time when he had told her he hated the Japanese. With a pleasant jolt, he sees as Mai tells herself that day Koujo Lin has a nice smile. She also thinks he is a nice person. Was it that day that he too realised that Mai Taniyama was a nice person too? He wants to stay and look at himself through her eyes but he cannot. When he saves her he will let her know that it made him happy at how he made her worry-free that day.  
_ _Then, finally, he reaches at the last step of the human mind: the unconscious. Instantly he encounters a block. He instructs his shiki to break down the wall. His shiki gets to work._

Houshou enters the base with John in tow carrying a tray of tea and snacks. He looks surprised at the scene in front of him: Mai is on the floor, fast asleep with an immobile Lin seated stiffly with his eyes closed and holding her hand while Naru, beside Lin, and Ayako, near Mai's feet, look on. Also someone is burning incense in the room. He thinks if it is his wife's doing.  
Houshou is about to ask aloud when Ayako spots him and shushes him. She gets to her feet and drags them both out of the room. When they are in the corridor, Ayako whispers, "Mai is stuck in a dream, Lin is trying to get her back. Don't dare make a sound you two, okay?"  
The priest and the monk simultaneously nod.

 _It feels like a lifetime but the wall breaks. More memories and past dreams brush past him. He makes sure not to touch them. He calls out, "Mai! Mai!" He orders his shiki to scout ahead.  
_ _He puts his hands on his hips. Where is she? Has she left her body completely? His heart thumps in panic when he toys with the idea. No. That cannot be. He is sure she is still here. Stuck._

 _The shrill laughter would periodically boom. Nagisa, in between tears, says, "She keeps on doing this. Mocking me, making me feel more miserable than I already am."  
_ _"How cruel," Mai mutters. Suddenly they hear someone shouting, "Mai!"  
_ _She recognises that voice. Lin!_

 _When his shiki returns and reports to him, he gets the gist of it all. An unknown conscious has imprisoned Mai in her mind. He can take a blind guess at the spirit responsible. He asks his shiki to show the way and then they take off running along the dark tunnel of her mind.  
_ _Then they encounter the final obstacle. A spirit, her face twisted and her malevolent aura makes a seasoned onmyoji shiver a little. He quickly puts his shiki to work. The spirit and his familiar clash, and Lin feels his energy seep out a little. This is going to cost him much energy._

Back in the outside world, the awake SPR members gasp aloud when they see Lin swaying and his body falling sideways on the floor. Houshou quickly gets him a pillow and gently puts his under his head. He says, "Lin must have encountered the spirit."  
"Oh God," John crosses himself.  
They all notice that Lin still hasn't let go off Mai's hands. Outside the sun slowly starts it descent.

 _He doesn't know how long it takes but finally he wins. The spirit screams and disintegrates. He knows he hasn't banished her. This was like a hologram protecting the entrance. She must have fathomed Mai's abilities and attacked her accordingly, creating a channel between her and Mai on the astral plane. He shouts again, "Mai!"  
_ _Mai hears him and gets to her feet. Nagisa says, "Oh thank all the gods! Someone is here for you! Go! Don't wait any longer! Follow the voice!"  
_ _Mai almost starts running when she turns around and extends a hand towards Nagisa. She sadly smiles and says, "No Mai I can't go with you."  
_ _"But!"  
_ _Nagisa pushes her, "Go, go, go! Quickly before she returns!"  
_ _Mai bites her lips. She conveys her apologies through her eyes. Nagisa sadly nods, she understands. Mai starts running, she shouts back, "Lin!"  
_ _The scene around her shifts again. She is in her mind again, she realises when she is back at the dark, seemingly eternal and endless place. She runs forward, without stopping as she keeps shouting, "Lin! Where are you?"  
_ _"MAI!" he hears her. She must be getting close. He says, "Just follow my voice!"  
_ _Then she sees him. A spotlight trained on him. But the creature beside him halts her in her tracks. It is a huge dog-like creature bright as snow with glowing orange eyes and orbs of flames of orange hovers all over its furry body. She notices swirls of purple symbolic designs on its paws and around its glowing eyes. What shocks her next is the collar of beads and skulls around its neck._ Lin's shiki _, she figures it out,_ it is impressive _.  
_ _Lin says, "It is okay. He won't hurt you. He knows you well."  
_ _She smiles as she recognises the warmth that seeps into her mind, "Is he the one you always send to protect me? He feels…warm."  
_ _He smiles, "You feel them, don't you? Not everybody does."  
_ _She shrugs, "I am after all, SPR's weirdness mascot."  
_ _He laughs. If you asked him now, he wouldn't be able to construct a coherent sentence about how he felt to see her right now. Relieved, happy were the tip of the iceberg.  
_ _And ditto for our girl too. The shiki pads slowly over to her and licks her face. She giggles, but then gasps when a smooth baritone fills her head, "Master Lin must like you very much. Take care of him." She looks into those mesmerising orange eyes and realises that he just talked to her. She touches his nose and bows her head. The shiki goes back to stand beside his master.  
_ _Lin, who has seen the entire exchange, observes with amusement, "He must really like you. He did something on his own volition now."  
_ _She walks up to him and holds his hand. She smiles, "Let's go back, eh?"  
_ _"Yes."_

Mai and Lin both wake up at the same time. Mai wakes up to see Houshou, John, Ayako, Naru and Yasu (who had joined them in the meantime) looming over her. She feels something holding her hand. It is Lin with his long fingers entangled with hers, who straightens up and scratches his head. He asks, "How long…"  
John answers, "Nearly six hours! It is quarter past ten now!"  
Mai sits up and shouts, "Six hours? What?"  
"Yeah," Houshou says, "We nearly send you both to the hospital as well."  
Naru passes two cups of strong, hot tea to Mai and Lin. He says, "Drink up. And when you are done, tell me everything."  
After a few minutes when they are both done, Mai starts with her dream. When she tell them about the two Nagisas incident, they are all shocked. Then Lin tells them about his adventure and tell his theory, "Mai's ability and emotional vulnerability was harnessed by the other Nagisa to hurt her mentally."  
"Emotional vulnerability?" Houshou whispers to Ayako who gives him a solid jab under his ribs. He yelps a little.  
Naru, who was deep in thought after their narrations, finally speaks, "Could it be…that Nagisa had multiple personality disorder?"  
Ayako gasps, " _That_ would make sense about the whole other Nagisa thing!"  
John asks, "Multiple personality disorder?"  
Ayako explains, "It is a kind of mental disorder where the mind creates one or many alternate selves to counter some sort of great tragedy. In Nagisa's case, I can safely assume the death of her mother and remarriage of her father could have triggered her to create a stronger alternative personality to protect herself."  
"Yes," Naru says, "It could have been that she reverted completely to her violent personality after she heard about the Kenji-Nanami engagement. Maybe she had normal episodes and Nanami helped her. But her other self took the news of the engagement hard and subsequently it led to all this."  
"What about the whole waterfall scene?" Mai asks.  
"I have an idea," Houshou says, "Vengeful spirits, or onryo, of the living are said to inflict curses upon the subject or subjects of their vengeance by means of transforming into their ikiryo form."  
"You mean," Lin says, "That when Nagisa stabbed herself she had already left her body in spirit form and then later returned to her own her spirit got corrupted."  
"What is an ikiryo?" John asks.  
"Ikiryo refers to a spirit that leaves the body of a living person and subsequently haunts other people or places," Houshou answers.  
"Then when she had already cursed Nanami and the Tamako brothers, and when Saito killed her, her physical body finally died," Naru surmises, "Then she turned into an onryo completely. The burial kimono. Before that it was ikiryo. But is this really possible? Two kinds of spiritual transformations?"  
"Yes," Lin says, "Remember she was very, very angry and extremely determined. Also she could have chanted a spell to achieve exactly that. And I am sure she might have harnessed evil spiritual energy to do so."  
"Hmm," Mai says, "The nicer Nagisa is trapped inside still. Uh, could it be that the deaths didn't happen could be because nice Nagisa stopped them?"  
"It is plau—Lin!"


	17. Chapter 17

"It is plau—Lin!" Naru shouts when he sees the onmyoji close his eyes and crash against the floor.  
Mai turns her head and cries, "Lin? Lin!"  
Naru checks his pulse which is beating steadily. He sighs, "Bringing you back must have drained him off spiritual energy. He will be okay. He needs rest."  
Mai nods, eyes shining with tears threatening to fall any time now. She gently grabs his head and places a pillow underneath. Ayako smiles at the tender expression on Mai's face. Goodness this girl is in too deep to not even notice the weird expressions John and Houshou were giving when she started to softly stroke Lin's hair.  
Naru coughs loudly, "Erm, Takigawa, Ayako and John, also," he glances at Yasu, "Yasu, we need to start working on a plan to eliminate the onryo." He gets to his feet and glares at the priest and monk, who when realising Naru has his death glare trained on them, scramble to their feet. He says, "Mai take care of Lin." He need not tell her that because he is sure she will not leave his side. He pushes everyone out of the room to give the two idiots some privacy.  
When they are outside, Ayako slides the door and smiles, "Honestly, they are too cute!"  
"Cute?" Houshou says, "Are you saying, they are, uh…"  
"Not yet," Yasu grins.  
"What the hell! He is ten years older than her!"  
Ayako smacks Houshou soundly on his head, "I am two years older than you even though mentally you might be ten years younger than me!"  
Yasu and John start laughing. Even Naru cracks a smile. He crosses his arms and thinks that the denouement was done. They did it. Now they need to beleaguer the spirit and set the real Nagisa free. But how? He looks at Houshou and says, "Monk, have you ever dealt with an onryo?"  
The monk shakes his head, "Honestly, no. An onryo is an unreasonable spirit. We cannot simply exorcise it. We need to completely destroy it."  
"Um, I have a doubt," John says, "How did Mai shift from Nanami's perspective to Nagisa's?"  
"Anything goes on the astral plane," Houshou suggests, "Though I think Nanami may have been possessing Mai in her dreams for some reason."  
Ayako contributes, "It could be the doppelganger effect. There are many folklores surrounding doppelgangers, some say they are harbingers of bad luck or an evil twin."  
"Or Mai could be like a mirror. She can see Nanami's perspective because they look alike?" Houshou says, "Have you not heard of tales where doppelgangers are considered to be a spiritual mirror image of yourself?"  
Naru, who has been contemplating, nods, "I am starting to form an idea. Say, who feels up for a summoning?"  
They all look displeased at that idea.

 **Day Eight  
** While the rest of the SPR gang had drifted off in exhaustion one by one as dawn approached at the base coming up with a fool proof plan of attack, Mai wakes up with a start. Somewhere after midnight and before the witching hour ended, she had lied down beside Lin and fallen asleep. This was a peaceful, (thankfully) dreamless sleep. She remembers something warm curl around them before she dozed off. _The dog familiar_ , she thought.  
When she wakes up, a full blush colours her entire face when she realises that Lin had his arms around her and had pinned her to his side with no room to wiggle out. Not that she wanted to. No, she is very, very comfortable. Her head is tucked under his chin as her nose bumps against his neck. Yes, this is very nice. She better enjoy it before he wakes up and awkwardly makes his escape. She wraps her arms around his waist and settles in more snuggly. It pleases her how well her tiny form fit against his taller one. If she could, she would probably never leave.  
But then to her surprise he mumbles, "This is very nice." Then his chest rumbles as he makes a very pleased sound in the back of his throat. He had woken up when she was trying to snuggle in closer. He had smiled by the way she moulded against him.  
Mai bites her lip in consternation, "Uh, is it okay with you? I mean, what I want—"  
"Mai, honestly, shut up, I am trying to sleep here, what with rescuing you had completely drained me," he mockingly scolds her.  
Her heart skips way too many beats as she mumbles against his chest, "Sorry."  
He opens his eyes and sighs, "Mai."  
"Hmm?" she has her eyes closed and face pressed against his chest.  
"Yesterday, you banished me but…I wanted to say something. I have never been in love before. So I really do not know what love is supposed to feel like. But I do feel something for you. And I have to yet to figure out if they are love…Ayako says love is simple but I am no good with all this, so can you be patient with this old man?"  
Good thing he couldn't see her face because she believes all the blood in her body has definitely congregated at her face. He would think she was dying or something. She gulps and says, "I can wait, my old man."  
"Yours?" he asks, with a certain lilt in his voice.  
Her temperature spikes when she nods and murmurs, "Mine."  
"Okay," he kisses the top of her head and closes his eyes, very content with himself and this.  
Sure, physically she simply sighed. But her soul, and mind, were doing cartwheels around the room and shouting in joy. She is never quitting SPR. Or him.

Naru is rudely awoken by Sakura who shouts, "Shibuya-san! Wake up!"  
Her shouting wakes the rest of them up. One by one Houshou, Ayako and Yasu wake up. They all look quizzically at her. She says, "Please! It is Tsugumi! She is behaving very strangely!"  
They all get to their feet. Naru orders Ayako, "Go wake up Lin! We may need him!"  
Ayako nods and takes off in the direction of her room. She hesitates at opening the door, fervently wishing no one is naked in there because that would be too much. She sighs when she slides open the door to see Lin and Mai clothed. They were spooning and Ayako had to take an "aww" break because they were looking too cute. However much she doesn't want to disturb them, she has to.  
She shouts, "Lin! Wake up! Something is wrong with Tsugumi!"  
It wakes up Mai who turns fifty shades of red when she realises the position she is in. She tries to get out of Lin's embrace but his hold just gets tighter instead. Ayako laughs at her predicament and says, "You know what, you wake him up. He might appreciate it more!"  
 _Oh God_ , she mentally dies a little of embarrassment. Thankfully Ayako leaves. But Mai feels defeated. She has to wake him up. It sounded urgent. So she shifts and now she faces him. She has an idea and the ingenuity of it excites her. She pushes her face forward until she is in a kissable distance from his lips. She lightly presses her lips against his. Then she not-so-gently nips at his lower lip.  
It works. Lin's eyes fly open. He felt something sharp on his lip. He looks down to realise that it was Mai, she had bitten him. He narrows his eyes, and she gulps, _uh oh_. Suddenly, limbs move and she is on her back pinned by her wrists with Lin looming over her. He dips his head and puts his lips on her neck, right above her pulse. She gasps out loud as her heartbeat races. Then he bites her. The pleasurably painful prick gets her all hot and bothered. But oh he doesn't stop there. He uses his tongue over his lovebite and sucks on it. _That is it I am dead_ , she gasps, _but it is a good death, oh yes_.  
He raises his head and says, with a mischievous glint in his eyes, "Now we are even."  
Mai's brain has melted, but still tries talking, "I-uh-had to-uh wake up, wake you up! Uh, Ayako said something about Tsu-tsugumi. W-we need to go."  
He ducks his head so she can no longer see his face hidden by the fringe. She can tell he was laughing though because his body is shaking. He leans back on his haunches and gives her room to sit up straight. He raises his head again and gets to his feet. He extends a hand and says, "Let's go, shall we?'  
She smiles and nods. She takes his hands and jumps to her feet. When they are out in the corridor, she asks, "What was so funny back then?"  
He grins, "I was thinking that why Mai Taniyama is so damn irresistible?"  
She says nothing after that and simply profusely blushes.

"Where is Lin?" Houshou asks as they make their way to the short corridor beyond the stairs. Tsugumi and Sakura's rooms were in this part of the house.  
Ayako smirks, "He will be here."  
They enter Tsugumi's room and the first thing that hits them is the chill. "Spirit," Naru mutters.  
The next thing that surprises them is the figure bunched up at the nook of the room. Her entire body is rocking back and forth. Sakura who is standing behind them says, "When I came to ask for her help with breakfast, I found her like this. I called and called but she is not answering me at all."  
Houshou gasps as he senses the spirit possessing Tsugumi, "It is not Nagisa."  
The others look at him in shock. A couple of minutes pass before John says, "Nagisa didn't call someone else did she? Like those samurais?"  
"I am pretty sure if this was a samurai, it would have attacked us by now," Naru says, "Houshou, Ayako can you tell what spirit is this?"  
"Let me," they turn around to see Lin and Mai standing beside Sakura. He sends a shiki to check. When his shiki returns and relays the information to him, he says, in a stunned whisper, "It is Kenji Tamako."  
"What?" Mai exclaims.  
Naru walks into the room. He stands a few feet apart from Tsugumi and says, "Tamako-san?"  
Tsugumi looks up, her eyes are bloodshot. Naru continues, "What are you doing here?"  
Tsugumi gets to her feet and falls down at Naru's feet which perturbs him. He crouches and places a hand on her shoulder. He soothingly says, "Tamako-san? Tell us."  
"It is all our fault—Saito and mine. We were young and stupid. Now my entire family is paying. Save them!" Then her entire body spasms and she falls into Naru's arms. Sakura rushes over, "Here Shibuya-san, I will take care of her." He nods and lets Sakura take over. He stands up and jerks his head at John and Houshou who get the signal and start checking to see if Tsugumi is possession-free.  
The rest of them retreat upstairs to their base. Yasu comments, "Did Kenji visit us because he felt guilty, even after three hundred years?"  
"Humans make mistakes, and sometimes they keep on repenting beyond death," Naru says, crossing his arms, "I suppose it runs in this family. Mistakes and repenting. All of their souls are on their own level of damnation: Kenji for betting, Saito for instigating the bet and loving his brother's wife and Nanami feels responsible for her sister's death."  
No one says anything for a while. Then Yasu's phone starts ringing. He picks it up. He listens for a few seconds then screams, "WHAT?"  
Mai startles. Yasu snaps the phone shut angrily. He explains, "It is a media circus at the hospital. Some nurse recognised Masako from TV, told her friends, who told their friends, so now local and national channels are fighting for a glimpse of the unconscious celebrity spiritualist. I need to go."  
Yasu picks up his jacket and starts walking towards the door. Naru stops him by grabbing his shoulder. He says, "I am sorry for yesterday."  
"Yeah," Yasu ducks his head, "I am sorry too. Thanks for not hitting me back."  
"I would have killed you if I did!"  
Yasu grins at the smirk on Naru's face, "And here I thought Naru the Jerk was being nice! Ever so modest!"  
The men smile at each other, clearly the hatchet buried. Everyone else mentally sigh in relief. Yasu leaves.  
Naru then turns his head towards Lin, "Sleep well last night? Because we got work to do."  
Ayako claps her hand over her mouth to stop the giggle threatening to burst. Mai wants to melt to the floor in sheer embarrassment. Lin shoots daggers at Naru who knows that the older man has definitely killed him five times in his mind. Adding insult to injury, even his shikis join in as they chuckle.  
Lin clears his throat, "Ahem, what do you plan to do?"  
"Destroy the onryo part of Nagisa. And, oh, Mai you have to be pretend to be Nanami."


	18. Chapter 18

Lin's eyes widen in shock. He looks at Ayako to back him up but then realises by the silence from her part that she already knows. Then he can safely guess that Houshou and John must have said okay to this too. Naru can be very convincing when he wants to.  
Mai, unexpectedly, says, "Okay. I can do that. You want me to pretend to be Nanami to lure her out."  
Lin looks at her in stunned silence. He says, "This is crazy." He turns around, wrenches the door open and stomps out of the base.  
Ayako says, "Told you he'd be furious."  
"It is anticipated," Naru says, "He is in love with Mai and this is dangerous. He cannot afford to have anything happen to her."  
Mai blushes and bites her lip, "Uh, Naru he didn't say he loves me or anything."  
Ayako laughs, "Oh please! Just because he is an idiot doesn't mean the rest of us are!"  
Mai puffs her cheeks and shouts, "I am going to the kitchen!"  
She doesn't need to stay and hear Naru and Ayako laughing.

Mai prepares the tamagoyaki and the grilled fish herself. She puts them on a tray with the miso soup and the rice. Sakura quips, "For someone special? Hmm, let me guess, it is either the handsome Shibuya-san, or the rather gorgeous Lin-san."  
Mai drops her head and softly says, "The rather gorgeous one." Then she hurriedly makes her escape as she hears Sakura whistle.  
Before heading to the kitchen she had decided to look for Lin. She had found him leaning against the cherry tree. Now with the tray in hand she wobbles over to the tree.  
Lin hears footsteps behind him and is not surprised to see Mai, balancing a tray. She sits down at the root and looks up at him, beckoning with her eyes to sit down. He does.  
She picks up her chopsticks and eats some of her portion. She says, after swallowing, "I got you breakfast."  
He says, angrily, "Why'd you agree with Naru's crazy plot? It is—" he is cut short when she picks up her chopsticks and stuffs his mouth with rice. He glares at her as he chews his food. His stomach grumbles as it is reminded of its hunger.  
"You skipped dinner," she eats some.  
"So did you," he says, crossing his arm, "Give me." She passes the bowl of rice and chopsticks to him. He picks at the fish and eats it. She looks at him in anticipation. He feels her brown eyes gazing at him. He understands but jokes, "The fish is quite good. Sakura-chan is a good cook."  
She puffs her cheeks and fumes. He bumps his shoulder against hers and smiles, "I know you made it."  
That makes her smile. She says, "Then can you believe in me enough to let me do this?"  
His expression darkens and his jaw hardens. Mai puts down her chopsticks and gets to a kneeling position. She had done this before, so she does it again. She grabs his face and says, with fire in her eyes, "How many times do I have to remind you I am capable enough? Do you not trust me?"  
He lowers his gaze (she was doing it, looking all determinate and making him all messed up what with his heart beat accelerating and all) and says, "What if something happens to you?"  
Her gaze softens. She kisses his cheek and says, "You are there, and Shiroshiki too, to protect me, right?"  
He has to ask, "Shiroshiki?  
She removes her hand and looks around, all embarrassed. She says, "Uh, your familiar. The big white one."  
He laughs, "That is a nice name!" He pauses as he looks to his right, "He likes it too!"  
"Phew!"  
"Okay," he concedes, "But if I even get an inkling of danger, we are putting a stop to it. Agreed?"  
"Agreed!"  
They return their attention to their breakfast and eat in a companionable silence.

In the middle of this all, Houshou leaves the onsen and says nothing to no one about his destination. He heads to the Sairenji Temple. A monastery might have the information he is looking for. As soon as he had learnt they were fighting against an onryo, he had decided to arm himself with the right weapon. The reason why he told no one is because he isn't entirely sure if his idea will work. He hopes he doesn't have to use his weapon, direly hoping it never comes to that.  
After a lengthy discussion with the head monk, he leaves and sneaks into the onsen. Ayako asks where he went but he gives her the right palliatives and she no longer asks but she suspects all right.

As soon as Houshou returns, they start. The idea was simple, Mai would be bait, pretending to be Nanami and lure Nagisa out. When she appeared, the monk, the priest, the onmyoji and the shrine maiden will combine their efforts to exorcise her by destroying the onryo in her.  
To prepare Mai, Sakura and Ayako go to town to find the right kimono. They knew how Nanami's bridal kimono looked like after Mai gave them a description. The challenge was to find the right kimono that would closely resemble it. After a couple of hours they find the right one.  
Mai after putting the kimono on says, "Eh, the one in my dream was of such great quality."  
"Well excuse me your highness, us peasants cannot afford royal kimonos," Ayako scoffs.  
The door slides open to let Kaorin enter. Her interest in the Edo period was genuine, so she had agreed to help with the hairstyle when Sakura had asked. Mai smiles brightly at Kaorin. She seems a lot better now after her secret was revealed.  
Between the three of them—Sakura, Ayako and Kaorin—they get Mai to look as much as Nanami as possible. Ayako asks, "Would the brown hair not ring her alarms?"  
"My chest isn't bigger, my eyes aren't grey. I don't think she will looks for particulars," Mai rolls her eyes.  
Sakura sighs, "I just want this to be over. But…there are the funerals, Hitoshi's guardianship, Kaito is still in a coma…" she holds back the tears, "When will this all end?"  
Mai hugs her and says, "We will do our best today."  
Kaorin says softly, "Please be careful."  
Ayako and Mai solemnly nod.  
Sakura and Kaorin leave after their work is done. Ayako and Mai look in the mirror that Mai holds aloft. The older woman says, "This has to be the craziest thing we have ever done."  
"Well not _the_ craziest, but definitely this goes in the top ten SPR chronicles of crazy," Mai laughs.  
Ayako chuckles, "Anyway I should go check what my idiot of a husband is doing." She fixes a rebellious strand of Mai's hair and smiles, "You look really beautiful. Guess your boyfriend will not be able to take his eyes off you!"  
Mai bites the inside of her cheeks. Ayako playfully squeezes her shoulders and leaves. Mai flops down on the floor. She touches her too hot cheeks and thinks, _boyfriend?_ Is Lin her boyfriend? Are they a couple now? They didn't do anything of the ubiquitous "couple things" others do like dates and etcetra. But she didn't mind. She just likes whatever they are now. She hardly felt the need to label their relationship right away. Couple or not, the fact that he is with her is enough to give her butterflies in her stomach.  
The door slides open. The noise startles her. She looks behind her back to find the very man plaguing her daydream standing with a tray in his hands.

Sakura was preparing tea for everyone when Lin offered to take Mai's to her room. John's wolf whistle would be reprimanded later by Lin. He slides the door and finds her sitting on the floor with her kimono spread around her. She jumps and looks at him over her back. Again that heart skipping beats thing happens to him. Her face is covered in the pinkish-orange light that is characteristic of twilight and it gives her a soft, nymphic look. He says nothing as he puts the tray down and kneels before her.  
She opens her mouth to say something. He leans closer. And her gasp of surprise is lost inside his kiss. His mouth is so hot and demanding there is little she can do but cling to his shoulders as he hauls her closer. Her lips softens and parts so he could kiss her more deeply, more passionately.  
When he pulls back, she makes a soft sound of protest. Their gazes meet and hold. His intense dark eyes and her brown—sharing the certainty that that wasn't enough, they must do it again.  
"Oh Mai," he whispers hoarsely, and he moves his hand from her waist and strokes her neck with an excruciatingly gentle touch. Her heart flutters. She cannot hold herself back. She raises her mouth to meet his.  
And this time their parted lips come together with less impatience and more exquisite focus. Lin's hands cradles her face. His hot, hard lips becomes warm, soft and tantalising, tasting her with deeply sensitive appreciation.  
She winds her arm around his neck, and each time Lin shifts the angle of his mouth to seduce her with the lush, warm slide of his lips and tongue she matches him move for sensual move.  
But soon their lungs protest for air and they pull back. She sighs and rests her head on his shoulder. Her heart refuses to quiet down and get back to its normal pace. She asks, "Well…what was that about?"  
"You," he chuckles, "Are affecting me like no one else ever has!"  
"Good," she feels mighty satisfied at that. Suddenly she remembers, "Lin? Can I ask you something?"  
He says, "Yes."  
"Are we…" she stops when she realises, _oh god I cannot_. Too embarrassing. She pulls back and shifts out of his embrace. She looks everywhere but at him.  
He looks on quizzically. He grabs her hands and pulls her closer. He asks, "What is bothering you?"  
She takes a deep breath and says in a rush, the words jumbling together, "Areweacoupleorsomething?"  
At first he doesn't get it, then he does. His frown clears and he starts laughing out loud. She scowls at him. She says, "What?"  
He scratches his neck, his laughter receding. He says a little shyly, "We are, if you want us to be."  
"Of course I want to be!" she shouts, gesturing wildly with her hands.  
That manages to amuse him more much to her chagrin. He leans closer and lightly kisses the crease on her forehead. It placates her a little. He says, "I was supposed to bring you tea."  
She laughs, "Oh well, looks like someone distracted you."  
"Yes," he grin, "That someone is deliciously cheeky."  
Her blush nearly matches the reddish orange light outside.


	19. Chapter 19

The place chosen is the men's room again. It was the second largest room and Ayako and Lin needed space to place their barriers. Lin gets two of his shikis to work while Ayako instructs Mai to stand still as she tucks a shimenawa in the folds of her kimono. She explains, "This will protect you. But she is strong so I don't expect this will help much, so be careful." Mai gulps and nods her head. Ayako grabs Mai's face and sighs, her eyes telling Mai loud and clear that she is really, really worried for her. Mai tries to reassuringly smile, but it becomes a grimace instead.  
Ayako leaves, replaced by Bou-san. He murmurs some mantras and when he is done, he smiles, "We will do our best," then he jerks his thumb behind, "Or else, he might murder us all."  
Mai looks over his shoulders to know who he exactly pointed at. She sees Naru and Lin heads bowed in deep discussion. She rolls her eyes, "Bou-san."  
He grins, "You and Lin? Huh, never saw this coming."  
"Bou-san…"  
He pats her head playfully and leaves. Mai looks over at Naru and Lin again. She faces Naru while Lin's back faces her. She bites her lips in consternation, as slowly and steadily the enormity of her part in this plan sinks in. Everybody is equally in danger. Good thing Naru ordered Yasu to stay at the hospital.  
Just then she feels a warmth enveloping her, both physically and mentally. Her mind welcomes the sunny warmth that manages to suffuse some of the fears. Her thoughts of panic calm down a little. She smiles. Lin's shiki does his job well. She does not know how to get into contact with him. But she thinks, _thank you_.  
Lin feels one of his shikis have left his side. He searches for it mentally and is surprised to find his dog familiar curled up around Mai. He locks his gaze with Mai and she smiles at him brightly. He smiles back but he is very much awed.  
He turns his head to look at Naru again. Naru sees the way Lin has his eyebrows crinkled. He asks, "What is it?"  
"It is about Mai," he says.  
Naru rolls his eyes, "Seriously after everything else—"  
"No," a hint of a blush colours his cheeks, "It is not about our relationship. It is about the fact that my shiki just did something unusual. He is, right now, protecting Mai without my orders."  
Naru's eyes widen when he understands, "You mean, it is doing something on its own?"  
Lin nods, "I usually chose my dog shiki to protect her. I even took him with me when I was in Mai's mind. Naru…only onmyoujis can control their familiars. Only we can feel and see them. But Mai can feel them…and when we were in Sentaro's room before the day he died, she saw the other shiki."  
Naru rubs his chin, "Mai has always done unexpected things. But this is new. Her spiritual energy must be phenomenal."  
"Yes, and it is dangerous."  
"It leaves her wide open for attack."  
Lin nods with a hard glint in his eyes. He traces a circle in the mat and says, "I don't know…but she has potential."  
"Potential as an onmyouji?" Naru smirks, "Well, she will have a very dedicated teacher."  
Lin sighs and rubs his face, "Seriously Naru? Are you never going to live this down?"  
Naru grins, "Koujo Lin in love is once in a lifetime moment. Koujo Lin can be human is rarer than a unicorn!"  
"I will kill you."  
Naru just smirks as he witnesses his old friend get supremely flustered.

Mai is alone in the room. The dusk is settling in. The others are waiting outside, patiently, on their feet, edgy and anticipatory. She smooths out a wrinkle on her kimono. She thinks she quite likes this one. Maybe she can keep it. Go celebrate hanami with Lin wearing this. She smiles, that'd be nice. It makes her blush all the same because she just realised that they—she and Lin—have never actually spent any time of their own when no other SPR members was around, or in the immediate vicinity. No one would interrupt them…that will be very nice indeed.  
She has to bite her lips hard otherwise the hysterical giggle about to erupt would have convinced her friends she has gone completely mental. Giggling while waiting for a visit from a spirit with murder on her mind is not a very wise thing to do if you want to preserve your sanity in front of others.  
She does not feel it first. But then when she feels the shiki bristling beside her, goosebumps erupt all over her arms. The air, it is colder. She raises her head. Slowly, she gets to her feet. The air in front of her shimmers slightly. Shiroshiki has taken his position. _Crack_. The sound came from behind her. She turns around to find the previously dusky sky an angry shade of purple and blue with lightning cracking. It is like midnight is already here. Every hair on her neck stands up when she feels it…  
…She is here. Mai turns her head around and gulps. Nagisa stands there in her white burial kimono with her hair flying loose and eyes, menacing and glimmering, glaring at her. All the hatred in the world, all the bloodlust of three centuries condensed in those eyes. The fear strikes at the very centre of Mai's being. She remembers this fear, just like the Urado mansion case where she was convinced she was going to die.  
"Na…na…mi," Nagisa rasps, inching closer to Mai who looks down. A few steps more…  
The spirit raises her hands and grins. Mai puts a hand over her mouth because the way her grin nearly reaches her ears scares her. She closes her eyes.  
"Ack!" Mai opens her eyes. She lets out the breath she had been holding. The door opens and the others run in. Lin immediately stands beside Mai. His circle of entrapment had worked. Revenge-struck Nagisa did not even notice the faint lines and symbols etched on the mat and got herself trapped. Lin channels his energy into the circle to hold her back. His shikis forge their energies with him too. Then Nagisa starts shrieking.  
The SPR members wince collectively. John and Houshou start chanting together. It manages to aggravate her more as she convulses and her volume simply increases. Ayako joins.  
Naru is the first to notice but by the time he can warn Lin, Mai gets pulled off her feet by an arm around her neck.  
Mai was standing still behind Lin who was focused on keeping the circle whole no matter what. She did not even realise when the samurai spirit manifested beside her and lifted her off her feet.  
That is enough for substantial damage When Mai gasps, "Lin!" he turned to look at her and his concentration broke. And Nagisa got her getaway. She slips out of the circle.  
"Shit!" John says and that is the last thing he says as a strong gust of wind picks him up and throws him against the wall. The priest loses consciousness and slumps like a sack against the wall. Houshou and Ayako put their all in holding her back. Houshou shouts, "Lin? A little help!"  
"No!" Nagisa shouts, "The onmyoji will not interfere!"  
"Oh but I can," Lin says. He can do this. They can do this. He whistles and his wolf shiki springs forward and jumps at Nagisa, pinning her under it. He whistles again as hi1s snake shiki winds itself around the samurai's body. The spirit lets Mai go and as the great reptilian familiar winds itself tighter around the samurai's body, he dissipates.  
Lin looks down on Nagisa, "Give up."  
She snarls as she drives her nails right through the familiar's chest. She attacks at the very core of the familiar-master bond. As expected, Lin feels the crushing sensation in his chest. He gasps and drops to his knees, perspiration beading on his forehead.  
Mai yelps, "Bou-san do something! She is attacking his familiar!" She mentally instructs the dog shiki to do the same.  
Houshou gets into position. He does not feel or see the familiar standing beside him but he gets to work.  
Nagisa does not let go off the wolf as Lin feels the effects of it. But he feels his other shikis trying to protect their master and attack the spirit. Just when he thinks the tables have turned all hell breaks loose.  
First a growling sound fills the room. Then a small hurricane builds up outside and it bursts in the room, breaking the wall completely and from the eye of the storm rises a form, a canine form. When Houshou sees it, he whispers, "Inugami."  
Lin's mouth gapes open as well. The pain lessens. He stumbles to his feet again. Mai looks awed and scared at the snow white dog with glowing red eyes. She asks, "Lin, what is it?"  
"Bad news." He brings his fingers to his mouth again and whistles, sharp and loud.  
The evil dog spirit lunges at Lin but gets blocked by his familiars. He shouts, "Naru take Mai and leave!" He has never harnessed this much of power, but then again this will be his first time fighting a demon dog-god.  
Nagisa starts cackling. Her next victim is Ayako who she easily defeats the same way she did for John. Houshou runs over to his wife and is, for a minute, glad when he sees she is still breathing. He stands up and makes his decision. _The time has arrived_ , he thinks. He shouts as he runs out of the room, "I'll be back!"


	20. Chapter 20

Mai stands there, still and dumbfounded. First she could not believe the fact she can see the shikis—the black wolf with the ferocious yellow eyes and black smoke-like substance clinging to its fur; the orange snake with jewel bright red eyes; and Shiroshiki—as clear as a picture. She could feel them, she vaguely saw their silhouettes before but this is new. Next she could feel the energy seeping out of Lin as he poured everything and merges with his familiars in fighting the demon dog.  
But somewhere deep in her mind she hears a tiny voice, _help Lin, touch him and help him_. She moves forward and entwines her fingers with his. He is about to ask what she is doing when he feels it—an amazing reservoir of untouched spiritual power. _Mai_ , he realised with a jolt. He feels a thin river of energy trying to merge with his. He lets it in.  
Naru stands at a corner and watches Lin and Mai. He can guess what is happening even though he cannot see the shikis. He had fathomed as such when Lin aired his doubts about Mai to him.  
Together, Mai and Lin, channel their energies and the familiar's and jump on the demon dog with full force. It doesn't take long before Shiroshiki and the wolf hack at the dog. With one long, loud growl, the demon dog dissolves—its thirst for blood unquenched. Mai and Lin's combined forces dispels it with considerable ease.  
When Nagisa sees her summoned demon getting defeated, she shouts, "Nanami!"  
"Nagisa."  
Lin stops. Naru, too, turns his attention towards Mai. From the corner of his eyes he sees Houshou re-entering the room. Something in her voice surprised them. It did not sound like her at all.  
Even Nagisa stops. She looks confused. Mai looks like herself but not like herself. Her face softens and her eyes get melancholy. Her posture changes. She straightens her back and looks directly at Nagisa. She says, "Nagisa, my little sparrow." A single tear rolls down her eye.  
Naru whispers when he figures it out, "Nanami has possessed her."  
Then something happens to Nagisa as well. Her form shifts like static. She grabs her head and screams, except there is no sound. Just her mouth wide open. She closes her mouth and everybody is surprised to see tears in her eyes. She whimpers, "Nee-chan?"  
Mai smiles sweetly and raises her arms beckoning Nagisa to come closer. Nagisa moves towards her. Lin is about to move when Naru holds him back. He doesn't say anything as he glares at Naru.  
"Nee-chan?"  
"Nagi-chan…I am so sorry," Mai says.  
"Nee-chan, I am sorry," more tears roll down her face.  
"It is all my fault isn't it? I should have done something."  
"You didn't know?"  
"Know what?"  
"Saito and Kenji made a bet on me, how fast Kenji can seduce me."  
"What?" Mai raises her sleeve and covers her mouth. Her eyes wide in indignation.  
"You didn't know…" when Mai shakes her head, Nagisa scowls, "Yet…you carried Saito's child, didn't you?"  
Mai cries, "Nagi! Please forgive me!"  
"NO!" her forms shifts again. It is back to the previous Nagisa. She screams, "I WILL KILL YOU!"  
"Nagisa no!"  
But before she can jump on Mai, her flight stops midway. She looks down to see a blade sticking out of her midriff.  
Lin and Naru saw the change in Nagisa and before they could do anything, Houshou rushed by them, chanting. Then he drove the sword through Nagisa. Then the three of them watch in awe as a white wisp floats out of Nagisa's body. Then they see the spirit leave Mai's body. Lin rushes over as Mai falls sideways. The wisp takes a solid form: it is Nagisa. But a different one. Her face is relaxed and she smiles at the spirit of her step-sister, who smiles back. The two step-siblings clasp their hands together. A bright light suffuses them and when the light recedes, they are gone.  
"Phew," Houshou wipes his forehead. It is over. Their ordeal of eight days is over.  
The air gets back to normal. Mai wakes up to find herself bunched up in Lin's arms. She asks, "Uh, what happened?"  
Lin simply sighs.

It was near nine and Lin, Mai, Houshou, Ayako, Naru and John are at the looks squarely at Houshou, "Explain."  
He rubs his neck, "Okay. When we were talking about onryos and such, I remembered a story my father had told us once. A tale from Izumo, it is called _Of a Promise Broken_. It is about a samurai who promises his wife that he will never remarry if she died. She dies and surprise, surprise, dude goes and remarries. His wife returns as an onryo. As usual, she killed the new bride. But she was defeated by a samurai blade while a Buddhist prayer was chanted."  
"Why didn't you tell us all this before?" John asks, holding the ice pack to his head.  
"Because one, it is a tale told to spook little kids. Two, there were chances it would never work. But apparently this legend turned out to be true."  
"Lin says I got possessed by Nanami and that something happened to Nagisa," Mai comments.  
"Yeah," Houshou says, "I think Nanami came down to help her sister."  
"When Takigawa drove the blade through her I think her other self finally released herself from her onryo self," Lin says.  
Naru nods, "She is finally gone."  
"The real one is finally at peace too," Mai smiles, _rest in peace, Nagisa._ Then she turns her attention towards Ayako. She asks, "Are you okay?"  
Ayako smiles, "Yeah it is a little bump."  
"Is the…uh… I suppose you cannot tell," Mai blushes, biting her cheek scolding herself for almost giving Ayako's secret up.  
Ayako blushes, "Uh, yeah. Haha."  
Houshou crosses his arms, "Excuse me? I feel like I missed something. Care to explain?"  
"Your wife is pregnant," Naru solemnly announces.  
"Wha—" Houshou flails.  
"How?" Mai gasps.  
"Naru," Lin sighs.  
"A baby?" John can only ask.  
"I will kill you Naru," Ayako promises.  
"It was obvious. You puked nearly every day. You even refused to drink alcohol when Sakura offered you sake two days ago. We all know how much you love your drink. And I heard you asking Sakura about pregnancy," Naru explains.  
Ayako slaps her forehead, "I will really kill you."  
"A father? Me?" Houshou finally realises. He cannot really believe this is happening to him for real.  
"That is so cool!" John exclaims. Then Mai has to chew the skin around her thumb and pray for invisibility and Lin had to look at the ceiling as John says, "SPR's first baby!"  
Needless to say, Naru laughs the loudest much to Lin's great discomfort.  
Thankfully Lin's phone rings to stop him from hitting Naru. He picks up, it is Yasu. He says, "Yes?"  
"Masako woke up! And so did Kaito Kawaguchi!" Yasu informs. Kawaguchi and Masako were at the same hospital.  
Lin disconnects the call and relays, "Masako is awake and Kaito Kawaguchi came out of his coma."  
They hear a discreet knock on the door. It opens to reveal Tsugumi. She smiles, "Kaito-chan woke up!"  
Naru gets to his feet. He says, "We heard. So did our colleague."  
"God, it is finally over," she grabs Naru's hand, "Thank you Shibuya-san!"  
Naru nods. He says after Tsugumi leaves. "Let's go."


	21. Chapter 21

They are all sitting around Masako who brightly smiles at everyone. She had asked after the events that happened after she ended up in the hospital and all of them told her, amidst much shouting and contradictory arguments.  
Yasu asks, "So destroying the onryo also woke them all up?"  
"Yes," Lin says, "I did tell this before. Nagisa was using their blood to fuel her magic. She used Kaito all this while because she couldn't kill him. Even Masako."  
"Yes," Masako nods, "I felt her in my head sometimes."  
"So you shut yourself off from her getting too deep," Naru says. Masako nods in confirmation.  
Yasu notices Houshou for the first time. He is here, but his eyes are all unfocused as if mentally he is somewhere else. He asks, "Eh, earth to Bou-san?"  
"Do you think Kosuke is a good name for a boy?" Houshou counter questions.  
"What?" Yasu says.  
"Oh!" Masako cries, "You finally told him about your pregnancy?" she asks Ayako. Yasu just mimics a fish.  
Ayako nods. Then she sharply says, "You are not naming my child!"  
"Excuse me? "My"? That didn't happen only because of you! And how did everyone know before I did?"  
"Because like the idiot that you are, I knew you would say stupid things like that! And you are not naming our kid!"  
And some things really do not change at all.

It was on the insistence of Yasu and Houshou that Naru grudgingly agreed to this trip to Beppu. Everybody suddenly wanted to go to the beach. Lin smirks because he knows Naru, despite his nonchalance, was glad about some break after the haranguing case at the Kawaguchi onsen.  
They had checked in a hotel real close to the sea. The pier is a few minutes' walk from their hotel. Ayako and Masako immediately beeline for the spa. Houshou, John, Mai and Yasu decided to head to the beach. Lin is left in his room with Naru. He is unpacking his bag when he asks, "Are you even going to go outside?"  
"And ruin my perfect complexion?" he yawns, "Never. I saw a little book shop near the hotel. I am going to head there." He leaves.  
Lin shakes his head. He already knows what is on Naru's itinerary: sleep, read, avoid others, sleep some more. He decides to go find the others on the beach.

The air is crisp and he really enjoyed it. It had been awhile since he last been on a beach. He opens his shoes and crunches the sand under his toes. It felt nice. He looks up trying to locate the others when he spots a lone figure in a white dress standing at the pier. That is Mai's dress. He walks over.  
Mai is taking deep breaths and thanking Naru for not being a jerk when they had requested him. _Huh, he wanted to come as well_ , she scoffs. Suddenly she feels a warm touch on her shoulders. She looks up and smiles. It is Lin.  
"Weren't you supposed to be with John and all?" Lin asks.  
"Yeah. They heard something about sand baths and abandoned me," Mai replies. She leans into him and says, softly, "But this is nicer."  
He chuckles as he wraps his arms around her and pulls her close. He kisses her neck. She sighs, greatly appreciating the warmth. Then she says, "Lin?"  
"Hmm?"  
"What did I do exactly that day?"  
"You helped me."  
"How?"  
He pulls back and asks, "Don't you remember?"  
"No." She turns around to face him.  
He runs his hand through his hair, "You fused you energy with mine. If it weren't for you, I couldn't have fought the demon dog."  
"Uh," she shuffles her feet and dips her head, "I saw all of your shikis, like they were right in front of me. How could that be?"  
Lin curls his finger under her chin and raises her head. He kisses her on her forehead. He says, "Naru said that you might have potential as an onmyouji."  
Her eyes widen, "Me? What? Was Naru on drugs when he said that?"  
"I kind of agree with him."  
"But! Me? An onmyouji? How?"  
"Do you know how strong your spiritual energy is?" when she shakes her head, he sighs, "It is too strong. You will need to control it, tame it. And I think onmyoudo can help."  
She dips her head. She let his words sink in slowly. She picks at the button on his shirt and says in a little voice, "You will help me, right?"  
"Of course," he gets all shy next as he puts his hand over hers, "After all, I…uh, I love you, you know." Yes, now he knows. It was not hard. It was always there—the faint echo in his mind that maybe, just, maybe he is capable of loving someone back like Mai, who has never asked anything of him. She was ready to wait for him. But he will not keep her waiting any longer. He will be honest to her, and more importantly be honest with himself.  
Mai looks up and giggles. When he looks at her all confused she says, "Yeah, I know. I love you." She stands on her toes and kisses him. She can feel him smiling under her lips.  
This all that she needs.

 **A/N. LAST CHAPTER Y'ALL! Thank you for reading this AND leaving nice reviews! :***


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